


Double Trouble

by LadyHallen



Category: Howl's Moving Castle - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Reincarnation fic, book-verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-05-30
Updated: 2009-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:09:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 21
Words: 27,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27696752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyHallen/pseuds/LadyHallen
Summary: Sophie dies. The castle inhabitants move on, with Morgan getting as notorious as his daddy. Then, one day Howl comes home with a Sophie's look alike. Things start to get a little more interesting than it usually gets in a wizards house.
Relationships: Sophie Hatter/Howl Pendragon
Kudos: 5





	1. In which a great tragedy occurs

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fanfic I ever wrote. Posting this here because reasons.
> 
> Also, I know this is terrible and if y'all are gonna be mean, I'm removing your privilege to comment on this fic.

"No!" Michael cried. He clutched Sophie's cold, dead hand. Martha held his shoulder and shed silent tears, her thin shoulders shaking.

Howl was stricken. His face held a permanently shocked expression. He couldn't believe it. His wife for six years was dead. So suddenly she had died that he had had no way to prepare himself of the waves of grief already heading his way.

"Howl." Calcifer intoned. "She knew she was going to die."

The fire demons words gently brought Howl back to reality. "What do you mean?" he asked hoarsely.

"Remember her curse? She knew because I told her. That curse ate away a lot of her life. She told me a few days ago that she felt her end approaching."

This was too much for Howl. He broke down and fled to his room, the room where he and Sophie shared so many memories. His mourning was cut short when he heard small footsteps approach his bedroom door. _Morgan._

"Papa, what's going on? Why are Michael and Aunt Martha crying?" he demanded. He had a strong-minded personality that was exactly like Sophie's.

"Morgan." Howl swallowed. "Your mama went away somewhere. Somewhere wonderful. To rest."

Morgan's eyebrows wrinkled in concentration. "Can I see her? Is she gonna come back?"

"No Morgan." Howl drew in a shuddering breath. "You see, she's never coming back."

Comprehension dawned on the little boy. "Was it something I did?" he asked with a trembling lip. "Was Morgan a very bad boy?"

Calcifer, who had secretly followed Howl in case he did something stupid out of his grief, jumped in at this part. "Actually Morgan, it's the other way around. Your mama knew that you were already a very good boy so she knew she could leave you already."

Morgan's innocent little head came up with a silly little conclusion. "Was it something papa did?"

"No." Calcifer said. "It was actually your papa that prevented her from leaving immediately."

"Then we have to stick together papa. Maybe someday, Mama would like to come back."


	2. In which some secrets are spilled.

"Morgan!" Martha called. "Don't go out so late or else your father will fry me."

Morgan, already 16, smiled at his aunt. "I won't. I'll still be in Market Chipping, and anyway, he can always do a search spell for me when he gets too worried."

"Alright little boy. Get going."

"Are you that eager to get rid of me?"

"Nope. You see, the faster you get out of here, the earlier you can get home."

Morgan gave her a grin and disappeared through the portal.

"You know, "Calcifer said. "You two are starting to sound like Sophie and Howl except that their arguments usually were more violent and magic oriented. Do you remember, Martha?"

"Who doesn't? Well, maybe Morgan, but he has the excuse of being too young. I miss her you know."

"Yeah. I miss the torment she brings me. She loved to feed me large amounts of cobwebs every day."

The portal opened, black blob down and Howl entered, looking tired and hungry. Martha and Calcifer shared looks of fear. What if Howl had heard them talking about his deceased wife?

"What's this? No greeting of welcome? I don't mind you Calcifer, but I wonder what's wrong with Martha." Howl asked dramatically.

"Welcome home." Martha said dryly and Calcifer cackled.

He shot the fire a scowl and settled down in front of it. Martha moved to make him lunch and he smiled slightly. "Martha, did Morgan go out again?"

"Yup. The little child wanted to see a girl. Reminds me of someone," she replied, wriggling her eyebrows at Howl.

"Ugh! What if the girl falls in love with him?"Howl asked, horrified. "I'd better go back to Wales."

"No way," Calcifer laughed. "I will close that portal when that day comes. You reap what you sow Howl. This was just a reminder to you of what you did in your bachelor, heartless days."(No pun intended.)

"I didn't tell him about that." He complained to the fire. "Michael's such a motor mouth sometimes. Look what he's done to my kid. If Sophie knew of this, the beams would get charmed to life and beat Michael senseless."

Calcifer and Martha stiffened unconsciously at the mention of Sophie's name. It was only for a second and then Martha recovered.

"Hey! Don't blame my husband." she said indignantly. "Calcifer, move over so I can heat this up."

"Do I get to eat the leftovers?" Calcifer asked.

"Sure. Just pray that some people would get back on their diet and leave you some." The metal pan clonked over the curly green flames and started to steam gently.

"Calcifer, heat some hot water for my bath." He said. "Martha, tell me if Michael comes home from Kingsbury. I have something I need to talk to him about."

"Okay." Martha said at the same time Calcifer started grumbling under the pan. "I'm treated like a slave and whenever I want to get a day-off, something happens to one of you and I don't get to have freedom."

"Calc, you really had a million chances of leaving the castle."

"Why would I leave?" he asked, surprised. "Who would take care of you guys if I go? I promised Sophie that I would stay. That was the only reason she died smiling."

"Wha-what?" Martha spluttered. "You sat on this for twelve years? Why didn't you tell us-me?"

"What's the point of telling you?" Calcifer asked innocently. "You humans are so nosy."

The steak sizzled and it distracted Martha from her smart rebuttal. It took only a second and she turned her attention back to the fire again. "If you weren't a flame, Calcifer, I would have throttled you already."

"Lady, I'm a fire demon. It's really so degrading if you just call me a flame."

Martha giggled. "Don't make me laugh, spark of fire. You're distracting me from our main conversation."

"Spark of fire?" Calcifer gasped indignantly.

"Any way's, why don't you describe to me _in detail_ what happened the night she died. You really seem determined to dodge this topic."

"Me determined? You're the only one who ever pesters me about this. Michael just leaves me alone and Howl…..well, he isn't so talkative about Sophie."

"Calcifer! Aside from Michael, you're the only one I can ask to talk about her in this house since Sophie's name seems to have become a taboo whenever Howl is around or Morgan."

"Alright! Sheesh." He was cut off when Martha gave him a look of plain annoyance. "She came to me, you see. The night before she died, she walked over to me looking pale and worried. Howl wasn't there, remember? He was out playing around in Wales so I was the only magical being to talk to. She knelt by the fire place and coaxed me out of a sound sleep.

"I asked her, 'What's up?'

"And she replied, 'Calcifer, do you remember what you said when we first met?'

"I looked at her blankly and she had to remind me. 'Calcifer, the curse that the witch placed on me? It ate away most of my life. I think its close.'

"'You mean that you're dying?' I asked.

"She nodded. 'But I'm not worried about that. If I go, who will take care of Morgan and Howl, Michael and Martha?'

"I frowned at her worries since it wasn't what I expected, you see. So I told her, 'Sophie, you should worry about yourself. Should I call Howl and see if he can find a spell to make you live longer?'

"'Don't,' she said. 'If you do, he will get sad and I don't want to go remembering him sad. I want to remember him being the idiot he is.'"

Martha, at this point, was already crying and having trouble breathing, so Calcifer considerately stopped storytelling for a few short minutes for her to catch her breath and he began beginning with the concerned question, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she blubbered. "Go on. No wonder you sat on this story for ages."

"Yeah. It's too heartbreaking for humans." He answered snidely. "Anyway, Sophie seemed so determined so I gave in about it and shut up. Obviously, she wanted _me_ to watch over you guys so she could be happy wherever she went so I gave her my word."

Martha recovered enough to come back with an answer to that. "Yeah, like a fire demons word is reliable. But at least you watched over us all and didn't fly off to the heavens like you dreamed of last night."

Calcifer turned, if possible, pinkish in color. "How did you know about that? You aren't a witch, are you?"

"No, but my husband is a wizard and while he was practicing stuff, he happened to hear your dream."

"That's not fair!" Calcifer moaned. "You never get any privacy in this castle!"


	3. In which Morgan reveals a habit that was once his fathers'

Howl stood with his ear pressed against the bathroom door, listening to the conversation of his fire demon and sister-in-law.

It was amusing to think that he was using the bathroom door as means of eavesdropping on a conversation. Usually, he would just leave a listening-in spell. If the circumstances had been different, he would have laughed. Carefully, he weaved his magic that would make Martha ask whatever question Howl had for his fire demon without getting caught. Talk about manipulation.

"' Don't,' she said." He heard Calcifer say. He breathed hard. 'If you do, he will get sad and I don't want to go remembering him sad. I want to remember him being the idiot he is.'"

Howl gulped back the fresh wave of tears that came, his throat feeling as if he'd eaten uncooked cookie dough in huge quantities. With a careless wave of his hand, he removed the spell just in time to hear Calcifer shout to the chimney, "That's not fair! You never get any privacy in this castle!"

Oh, how true.

Morgan smiled at the girl. What was her name again? Ah, yes. Krysta. Odd name.

"Morgan, darling, do you think you can come again tomorrow?" she asked huskily. She twined her hand in his palm and Morgan did his best to give his most charming smile. He didn't know how like his father he was acting.

"Of course, love." He answered. Time to ditch this girl, he thought. She's starting to act like such a nuisance. Anyway, I had no plans of courting her. Why did I come again? Ah, yes, to make her fall in love with me. No challenge with this one. She only took two days.

Morgan talked with her again and threw hints that he should be going home already. Sly and careful, he made sure that their parting was sweet and sincere. For her anyway.

When he got home, he would visit Wales. That way, he wouldn't get caught when she would try to find him. Wales. That was always his escape route. A place to run to when someone was chasing him. Ah, Mari, his beloved cousin. She wouldn't notice him for shit. But one day, she would. She had to. He was going mad.

"Where. Have. You. Been?" Martha exploded, making each word into a sentence. "Did you know that your father has been looking for you?"

Morgan backed into the door, exhausted and not the least intimidated by his aunt. He gave her a baleful look that he knew irritated her to no end.

"Young man!" she shrieked. "I asked you a question and you are obligated to answer it."

"I was with that girl. She was really hard to shake off. I think she gives new definition to the word 'love'." He groaned. He stalked past his furious aunt and went in the bathroom. "Calcifer, hot water please?"

"Well, he said please." Calcifer muttered.

Martha waited until the sound of surging water in the bathroom was heard, and then she turned to Calcifer. "Shit. Did he just say that the girl already fell in love with him?"

Calcifer grimaced. "He didn't exactly phrase it that way but yeah, he did."

Martha gave a deep and sincere groan. "What do you think will be the whiplash? Aunts or Mothers?"

"I'd go for aunts. They usually are more violent."

"Hey!"

The argument would have lasted longer had it not been for the arrival of Michael. The door opened, green blob down and Michael stepped in, his brown hair blowing around in the wind. He looked whipped.

"Welcome home!" Martha called.

"Yeah. It's good to be here. Anything new in this part of the world?" he flung his cloak on the table and Martha caught it before it landed, folding it neatly. She handed him a mug of steaming milk and he gulped it down eagerly.

"Morgan strikes again." Martha said. "We better be prepared to go off into the Wastes before somebody has the sense to come after him-slash-us."

"Strikes…..again?" he asked horrified. Then he added urgently, "Who is it this time, the Governors daughter?"

"No idea. He usually goes for someone famous, a much more dangerous twist to Howl." Calcifer replied darkly.

"That boy _has_ got to fall in love already. He does have a heart, right? Unless you ate it, Calcifer. " Michael teased.

"Me? I don't _eat_ hearts, I _own_ hearts! Except that I don't want to go back to that stupid contract again."

That night, Howl set off to Wales while everyone was asleep. And he came back a few hours after, with a girl that was the spitting image of Sophie, right down to the red-gold hair.


	4. In which a lot of strange things occur

Sophia Heraldia was on vacation from Argentina. The funny thing was, when she went to Wales, a lot of people seemed to know her. And another thing, they were _shocked_ to see her. Whenever they saw her, they would mutter and exclaim, in that weird language of theirs, and then mention a name. Howell Jenkins. How odd.

And then, Sophia was really beginning to mark Wales as weird when a woman (Megan) passed by, saw her, screamed and then fainted. She wasn't that ugly, was she? Maybe a little overworked but she even had a boyfriend to prove that she was fine, right?

What made her weird, embarrassing day worse was when a very handsome man came to visit her and made her fall asleep with some powdery substance. To top it off, she woke up to find herself asleep on a bed that smelled weird but clean and to find that same handsome man on her bedside, staring at her.

 _Kidnapping!_ She shrieked mentally

"Who the he- Who are you?" she asked, managing to make her voice sound steady and firm.

"My name is Howl. And yours is?" he asked, very intrigued.

"My name is Sophia. Sophia Heraldia. Where the hell am I?"

"You are in my castle, as my guest. "He answered pleasantly. "Do you think you can bear being here long enough for me to know you?"

 _Castle?_ She thought disbelievingly. "Wh-why would you care to know me? And besides, isn't this kidnapping?" she asked shakily.

He smiled and Sophia had a feeling that he had practiced that smile on someone else. It was a smile that was aimed just for women.

"This is not a kidnapping. I will return you to your apartment when you absolutely refuse to stay. But before you refuse, please hear me out." He pointed to the bedside table. "Please look at that picture."

Obediently, she did. And received the shock of her life. "I-I don't remember this."

"Of course you don't," Howl said quietly. "Because that isn't you in there. That was my wife, and she died 12 years ago."

Sophia's breath was caught in her throat. She looked alike to a dead lady?

Howl caught sight of her expression and quickly calmed her down. "Please don't be alarmed. I won't do anything to you. I'm just intrigued. You look so much alike, it makes me want to tear my hair out."

Startled, Sophia looked away from the photograph of her replica in a wedding gown and looked at Howl. It was only then that she realized Howl's true motives for taking her from her apartment. She also realized that her mere presence must have been a torment to him. She scrambled down from the bed and placed a hand on Howl's shoulder.

"It's alright. I'll stay here so that you can ease your pain. Let's talk about your wife. Tell me, what was her name?"

Howl looked in her eyes and took in a shuddering breath. "Her name was Sophie Hatter. When she was married to me, her name was Sophie Pendragon."

Sophia resisted the urge to shudder. Their names were nearly alike too. Nearly…..There must be at least a small difference between both of them. She managed a small smile. "Our names are nearly alike. Do you think that I am her exact carbon copy or do you think there is a difference?"

Howl made her sit down and he occupied the opposite chair. "There is a difference." He answered. "Your eyes. Hers were silver and yours are…."

"Sky blue." She replied dryly. "How did she die?"

"Well, she had a…sickness. It ate away most of her life."

So, for the first time in 12 years, Howl talked about Sophie to the most unusual person he could ever imagine. Sophia was patient with his stutters and hesitations, something his late wife would have had a hard time accomplishing. Sophia turned out to be an expert in drawing out eternal patience.

While Sophia found learned some things about Sophie, Howl learned some things about her too. He learned that Sophia was the middle child to five siblings, making her the center of all arguments and quibbles. That was the source of Sophia's patience since she usually was the one that broke up all arguments and balanced things out for her parents.

He learned that Sophia was a crack accountant and that all calculations were her bread and butter. Howl admired her with that one since it took Michael and him a number of days to solve certain things that she solved in just five minutes.

Howl laughed when Sophia described her vacation in Wales. He explained to her that he spent his childhood days in there, that most people saw Sophie and him visiting Megan and that all the townspeople saw him drunk on the day of Sophie's funeral.

"Then you're Howell Jenkins." She exclaimed. Howl laughed at her expression.

It was almost peaceful.

But, as usual, there is no eternal peace in a wizard's house. Make that, two wizards, one apprentice (Morgan) and one magical creature. Martha passed by Howl's door and saw Sophia accidentally. She screamed and fainted.


	5. In which a problem arises in meeting a certain castle inhabitant.

"Martha!" Michael exclaimed, dropping everything he was holding and rushing to where he heard her scream. He found her lying pale white on the floor. "Martha!" he yelled again.

Howl rushed out of his room and felt her neck. "She just fainted."

The relief rushed to his veins and he gently carried her. "What made her faint?" he asked just as he was turning away.

"Umm..." a tentative voice said. "I think she saw me."

Michael turned around and nearly dropped his precious cargo. "Sophie?" he gasped.

"It's Sophia." Howl contradicted.

Michael staggered. "Howl, were you depressed enough to-"

"It's not what you're thinking." Howl cut in quickly. Somehow, he didn't want Sophia to know that he was a wizard. He shifted the topic to Martha. "You better take care of Martha. I think the shock was too much for her."

"Who's Martha?" Sophia asked when Michael was away.

"She's Sophie's sister. Do you see the resemblance?"

"Really? Gosh. We-I mean-there is a resemblance."(I'm dying with all the name similarities here!)

Howl ushered her back to his room and shut the door. He turned to her with regret in his eyes. "I guess you don't want to stay now." She gave him a puzzled look. He explained, "Martha and Michael won't be the only ones who will scream and faint."

Comprehension slammed itself on Sophia's brain. She went pale, but she tilted her head proudly. "I'm alright. I'll stay here for a week." And then, seeing Howls expression, she quickly added, " _Just_ a week."

"Alright." He replied in a resigned way. "You're starting to sound like her. She was brave too."

"But I'm not a perfect clone." She snapped at him. He had the audacity to chuckle. "Anyway, how many people are there in this castle?"

"You met most of them. Were only few here. There's Michael, Martha, me, Calcifer and…..Morgan."

It didn't take a genius to know that Howl's greatest hesitation came from the last name. Sophia gently made Howl look at her. "Who's Morgan?" she asked softly.

"He's….my son. Sophie's and my son."

Martha slowly stirred awake and immediately regretted doing so. She felt like she had drunk one of the strange brews that Howl brings back from Wales and that she was feeling the after effects. Hangover, Howl had called it. She moaned pathetically.

"Martha, are you alright?" Michaels voice asked somewhere near her head.

"No. My head hurts. I do believe I'm having a hangover." She replied again with a groan.

"Uh, you hit your head on the floor. Was seeing Sophie too much for you?" he pushed her shoulders down to prevent her from bolting upright.

"That wasn't a dream?" she gasped. "Did she come back to life? What did Howl do to her corpse? What spell? We have to reverse it somehow! This is catastrophic! If Morgan-"

"Shhh," Michael cut in, holding Martha's lips shut. "Do you really think Howl would do that to Sophie, no matter how desperate he was? No, he wouldn't even touch her corpse."

"Then who was that? A doppelganger? A cursed being? A shadow be-"

Michael cut in again. "It's alright. That wasn't any magical creature. That was just a girl. I felt her presence. It was completely harmless."

"A girl who looked exactly like my sister? "Martha asked skeptically.

Michael nodded. "She isn't from this world. I believe that she comes from Wizard Howl's world. Did you see her clothing?"

"Wait. It was a little similar to Megan's cloths." She said thoughtfully. "So she's normal?" Michael nodded. "But it's creepy. They look _alike_."

"You passed out immediately. But she isn't exactly same as Sophie. Did you see her eyes?"

"Oh. I see." She was cut short, feeling foolish for overreacting. Then her expression turned imaginative. "Do you think she will act like Sophie?"

"A little, I guess. By the way, her name is Sophia, Sophia Heraldia." Michael was uncomfortable. He hated talking about Sophie because the last time Howl heard him talking about Sophie to Martha, green slime popped out again. Of course, this time, he could clean out the slime when he wanted to with a snap of a finger but it still creeped him out.

"It's so queer," was all she said. Then a thought struck her. "Dear, how will we tell Morgan?"

"I know." He answered, sounding worried. "Howl should have an idea."

"He wouldn't." Martha replied bluntly. "It would probably be unpleasant and then Howl would slither out again. He would leave us to it when it would come to that part and I don't want to deal with a sobbing 16 year old.."

"Don't talk so bad about him Martha." Michael reprimanded. "That guy was born that way. And also, I think Sophia has a solution for him. She didn't look like the type to back down from a challenge. Morgan doesn't cry much either."

"How will Morgan react then? He was young when she died, but he remembers her." Martha glanced around unconsciously, fearing that father and son might be close by.

"I won't do a divining spell with this one." He said with a grimace. "I dread what I'll see."

"Michael, your starting to sound like heartless Howl."

With that, Michael gave an evil grin that was so unlike him. "But Martha, I was his apprentice. It may not necessarily be genetically passed down."


	6. In which Morgan meets a certain young lady.

Morgan concentrated on his image in the mirror. Slowly, it transformed into the proper clothing for Wales. If his mother had been alive, he knew she would have told him to make it a little bit more presentable. After all, the clothing he always came up with was baggy and looked as if it was worn through a rough tumble in the forest.

Deciding that it was a waste of energy to make himself look better than he already was, he opened his door and stopped short.

"Hi dad." He said sheepishly. _Great._ To be caught by your father just as you were running off to his hometown to say hello to his niece was not exactly a great idea. Morgan had always felt it deep in his belly that Howl knew how he looked at Mari.

"Hi son." Howl replied calmly. "Off to Wales?"

"No duh." Morgan said. "Were you waiting for me?"

"Yup. I wanted you to meet someone." Howl sounded nervous and he quickly gulped down the sudden feeling of being nervous too in his throat.

Okay, let's face it. He, Morgan, was never that close with his father. Well, maybe for other kids, he was closer than close but he would never admit that to Howl. However when he heard those words, he was transported back to the time when he was an innocent little boy who had no clue on how cruel the world was.

Considering the circumstances, the first thing that came to Morgan's head when his father talked about meeting someone was a girlfriend. He knew his father's reputation was more notorious than his own when it came to women so he had a small kernel of fear lodged in his head along with the fact that he may get a stepmother.

"Who is it?" he asked, struggling to sound nonchalant and failing miserably.

"Um…I think it would be better if you saw her." Howl said confirming Morgan's fears.

Both males walked towards the dining room, where Sophia, Calcifer, Michael and Martha were getting acquainted. Howl was twitching internally, wanting to open the castle door and just escape the most troublesome part of getting Sophia to stay in the castle. Morgan wasn't even bothering to hide his anxiety. He was twirling a strand of his hair and looking at anywhere except his father.

Then, he saw her.

Sophia was rather surprised when she found out that the fire talked. When she was in Argentina, she never really gave a second thought to otherworldly stuff aside from numbers and accounting. The logical part of her brain gave her two options:

She was losing her mind and she was still stuck in weird Wales, strapped in a straitjacket and placed in a locked room.

She was in another world where magic existed.

Sophia preferred the latter since she was greatly enjoying her stay in Howl's castle, despite how talkative and interested Martha was with her. And also, she didn't think her math-riddled mind had much space left for imagination on talking fire's and a handsome man whose late wife looked like her. Nope. She was certain it was option number two.

"How many are your siblings?" Martha asked her.

"Uh...Were five siblings and I'm in the middle." She replied while rubbing her forehead. A humongous headache was heading her way. She could feel it.

"Really? Then your place in the family is just like Lettie's. Sophie was the eldest, you see and I'm the youngest which told us all that I would get the biggest fortune."

Sophia looked at her in confusion. What was being with the youngest? She was asking herself.

"Martha, I think you just confused her. She doesn't know the stupid superstitions in this world." Calcifer, the fire, spoke. Sophia jumped a little and looked at it nervously. Okay, that just confirmed Sophia's theory about the other world-thing.

"What superstition?" Sophia asked.

"Oh." Was all Martha managed to say.

"You see Sophia, in this place, the eldest get the worst luck when they venture to seek their fortune. The youngest gets the best and the middle gets a little of this and that." Michael explained. After seeing her expression, he added hastily, "But this only works when its three siblings who are all girls. It isn't the same thing for all of us."

"Oh. So, where did Lettie end up in?" Sophia asked.

"Well, you see, it's always bad-luck to marry a wizard." Michael elbowed Martha at that one. "And Lettie married Wizard Suliman."

"Oh, I see."

And then silence came. Martha finally ran out of questions to ask Sophia, or so she thought.

"Sophia, would you want bacon and eggs for breakfast?"

She resisted the urge to sigh. _Am I in a freaking police station here?_ She thought wildly before composing herself and smiling at Martha. "Please. That would be great."

"Good!" Martha smiled back. She walked her way to a cupboard that looked as if it had too many things inside and was ready to burst at any minute. Out of the mess, Martha came back with a wooden spoon, a saucepan and a basket of bacon and eggs.

"Calcifer," Martha said in a commanding voice. "Bend down your head so I could cook us some breakfast."

"Us?" Calcifer asked angrily. "Who's the us here? I'm the only one who doesn't get decent meals. I always get the eggshells, the cobwebs, and the leftover meat. Cook me something once in a while too."

Sophia stared at Calcifer, transfixed like a rabbit. It was her first time to see a fireplace complain about being used.

"Okay," Martha said. "Bend down your head so I can cook you something delicious and then I'll cook something for the rest too."

Calcifer stuck his purple tongue out at her and stubbornly had his head up.

Martha sighed and sent a despairing look to Michael and Sophia. "I guess were just having bread and cheese for breakfast."

Sophia shook her head and headed towards Calcifer. Calcifer saw her coming and made himself burn brighter, intending to scare her off. In his experience, women who looked like that were usually the ones who managed to bully him.

"Oh no you don't." Sophia said sternly. "I'm a hungry person here, and obviously, you're fed up of being cooked at."

Okay, this was a new tactic, Calcifer thought. Somehow, his blue head bobbed up and down voluntarily.

"But you see here, there's a problem because I'm really hungry and you're a fire who just doesn't want to bend your head down." Sophia went on, determined to cook breakfast. "So why don't you bend your head down _now_ and then you and I can go shopping for a new stove after breakfast. That way, all of us can be happy."

Calcifer's mouth was hung open and then he slowly bent his head down until only a ring of green was visible. Sophia gestured for Martha, whose eyes were wide with surprise, to continue cooking breakfast.

"Wow," was all Martha could say. Michael whistled in admiration."That was a new tactic. I didn't think of that."

"Yeah."Calcifer agreed sounding muffled. "So what's a stove?"

This time, it was Sophia's turn to be surprised. "You mean you don't know what a stove is?" she asked incredulously. At the shake of their heads, she snorted. "That's one of the reasons why I believe that fire is fed up. It's always cooked upon."

"That fire." Calcifer spluttered muffledlywhile Martha and Michael laughed.

"What did I say?" Sophia asked innocently causing more laughter to attack the couple. Their laughter distracted Sophia so she didn't hear the footsteps coming down the stairs and she didn't have time to brace herself when a handsome young man who looked exactly like Howl except the hair launched himself on her.

"Mama." The young man breathed out shakily. Behind him, the laughter died down and was replaced by complete silence.


	7. Which shows a good deal of bullying.

So this is Morgan, she thought. She looked over his head and saw Howl holding back tears. She caught his eye and gave him the look that screamed out, _Help!_ He gave her a grin and walked towards Morgan.

"Morgan? Son? That isn't Sophie." Howl gently pried him away from Sophia and Morgan looked momentarily lost. "They look alike, don't they?"

Morgan blinked away the tears that had leaked out of his eyes, seeming surprised that it had appeared, and then stared at Sophia, hard. His eyes were clouded and disclosed. Sophia had a feeling that Morgan practiced that look a lot on many people.

"Morgan, do you notice a difference?" It was Martha who spoke this time. Morgan shook his head in reply, never moving his gaze an inch away from her face. Sophia, by this time, had already gotten over the shock of being suddenly tackled and was staring back at Morgan with an expression of slight confusion and sadness for the little boy. Her eyes never wavered on him.

"Morgan," Martha continued. "Do you see her eyes?"

At this, Morgan's eyes that were hungrily devouring every detail of Sophia's face, moved to her eyes. He saw the difference but didn't say anything, his insides burning with longing and nostalgia.

"Hello." She said, speaking for the first time. The child's eyes bulged. "Your name is Morgan, right? Mine is Sophia."

He took note of the similarity of the name and swallowed hard. "You look a lot like my mama." He said bluntly.

"Yeah, your dad explained to me that part very well." She replied with a tone near shaky laughter.

The awkward scene would have straightened out eventually, but unfortunately for the poor Morgan and the victimized Sophia, the bacon that Martha had left on the saucepan could not wait so when Morgan was about to say something else in his own fashion, the scent of burning bacon filled the air. Martha, realizing what had happened in the midst of a touching scene, dived for the saucepan and rescued the bacon before it was beyond salvation.

Michael and Howl took one look at the burnt pieces and burst into raucous laughter. That thawed Michael who had stood still the moment Morgan entered. Sophia took one look at the bacon and sighed. Calcifer caught the sigh and grinned.

"Serves some people right." He fizzed.

During the meal, (Howl had somehow managed to fix breakfast and calm down Calcifer's testy temper) Morgan never stopped looking at Sophia, causing her to get self-conscious. Calcifer liked Sophia, despite her great bullying tactics on him and noticed her discomfort. With that, he brought up the topic that was dropped when father and son appeared.

"Hey Howl, Sophia here promised me that if I cook, she'll let me come with her and buy a stove. What's a stove?"

Howl looked up from his plate with a start and glanced at Sophia. She was grateful for the excuse to look at somewhere else aside from her plate and smiled at him. He gave her a scowl and she giggled.

"A stove…..Do you know how expensive stoves are, Sophia?" his tone was resigned, as if to say that this act of strong-mindedness would not go away anytime soon.

"Of course! You can take it from my account." Seeing his expression, she quickly added, "Really! I don't mind."

"Sophia," Howl began but he stopped short when he saw the determined look on her face. He hated every moment she was present in his castle. The proof of that was the tingly feeling he always got at the back of his stomach when Megan starts to rant. The only thing that kept him from erasing her memories with a snap of his finger and returning her to her apartment in Wales was Morgan. He needed this. Howl knew Morgan's eternal girl-hopping problem came from his lack of motherly love.

"Alright," he sighed. "Were going off to Wales."

Morgan registered the words through his rude-staring fest and smiled. That way, it was killing two birds with one stone for him. Seeing Mari and shopping with Sophia. It was almost as if his father approved of him going after his niece.

"How are we going to get there?" Sophia asked innocently.

Martha bit back her lips to prevent her laughter from escaping and Michael hid his smile with under his hand. Howl, on the other hand, was surprised at her question.

"Why do you ask that?"

"Well, because it seems that we are on another world, seeing as there is a talking fire that complains of being cooked on and silly superstitions about a failure eldest among sisters of three," she said in one breath.

Howl's brilliant eyes blinked and he turned to stare at his fellow wizard and the wizard's wife. Michael raised a hand in defense and suppressed his smile. Martha tried to look as sweet as she could.

"Motor mouths" Howl said under his breath. Then he added wearily, "We are going there."

"How?" she pressed.

Howl slithered out of her persistence easily by pretending he hadn't heard her. He instead focused on other matters. She noticed this and glared at her fork. Sophia realized earlier that glaring at a very handsome man was not very effective.

"Martha, Michael, you stay here and take care of the flower shop." Then, after seeing their mutinous expressions, he placed on a wizardly sternness, something Michael could never do. "Don't you have any engagements today?" They looked at him blankly, until Michael remembered.

"Oh yeah! Lettie and Wizard Suliman are coming here."

Sophia cocked her head to one side. "Wizard?"

Calcifer snorted. "You should have guessed by the 'talking fire' part. Lady, I'm a fire demon! It's really so degrading." Sophia was slightly speechless and Calcifer continued. "Ordinary fire places really are so rude. They bite me and say curses."

"Reminds me of someone," Howl muttered. He didn't say anything about Morgan. Howl knew that at the rate things were going, Morgan would never leave Sophia's side.


	8. In where Sophie meets Sophia

The small group set off to Wales, transported by Michael who was pleaded at by a Howl who was still determined to keep his identity as a wizard a secret. Sophia had clutched at Howl's arm in terror and Howl winced inwardly. Sophia was starting to act more and more like Sophie. Morgan was permanently stuck to Sophia's side. He never released his death-grip on her hand, holding it like it was the anchor to his whole world.

Sophia, who was getting quite used already to the changes to her life, did not react violently when they arrived back in Wales in the blink of an eye. If you ask why Howl did not use the castle door, that is because Sophia would know and she could easily return home.

"Okay, where to?" she asked Howl when the scenery changed.

He did not reply but he set off towards the nearest department store. He walked in front of them to lead them the way which was quite convenient to Sophia since she took this time to properly look at Howl.

Most of the time, Sophia just glared at him or looked at the floor for help. She always got stuck with looking at his face so she never looked at his clothes. She took her time now. While they walked, Howl was slowly changing his and Morgan's clothes into something more fitting for a Welshman. She only got a glimpse of shiny, trailing, silver and blue sleeves before it turned into baggy, short, white and blue sleeves.

They arrived at their destination and Howl gave her a look that said quite plainly "go ahead and indulge yourself." It was a look of long-suffering and she bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from grinning.

"I'll just go get us some coffee, "and with that, he had slithered out of shopping.

 _That slitherer-outer!_ She thought wildly then she sighed. "Morgan, could you help me look for a nice shiny stove?"

Morgan was startled and took a moment to reply. "It looks like that, doesn't it?" He pointed towards a Bunsen burner and Sophia bit back a sigh.

"Uh...No. It's something a bit more bigger." She dragged him towards the nearest stove shelf. "Like these. "

Morgan took only three minutes before coming to a conclusion of which one he liked. He ran ahead of her and pointed to a big shiny one. "I like it, its blue. Like Calcifer."

Sophia smiled. "I like that one too. Let's go look for someone to help us carry that."

Morgan shook his head. "No. I can transport it to the castle."

Sophia stared at him, hard. "Morgan, you can do magic?"

"Yeah! Dad taught me the spell a few days ago. It's pretty easy with inanimate objects." Morgan replied eagerly, proud to be showing off but not knowing that by doing so, he was divulging his father's identity.

Sophia stared at him blankly before managing a small, false smile. "Okay, let's move on to the cashier. After that, you can transport it to the castle."

Sophia called for a sales man to carry it for them and she paid, trying hard not to look at the price tag. If Sophia was being honest with herself, she was burning a hole through her wallet, but she would rather die than admit to Howl that she had meager funds. She knew he would give her a smirk and say "I told you so."

"Are we done?" Morgan asked eagerly.

"Not quite. We need something else. Do you know where to buy a gas tank?"

Morgan shook his head and Sophia tried to look hopeful. She looked around and realized that all the sales people were having a snack and were quite hard to find. She was beginning to think that maybe she had to ask when they were finished 15 minutes later, when the scent of Hyacinth wafted over to her. Her confidence restored, she traced the smell to a nearby coffee shop and saw Howl chatting animatedly to the store manager. Rather surprised, she turned to look at Morgan.

"Don't be so surprised." He answered her unasked question. "Dad is always like that. He was even worse when Mom was still alive. He broke her heart a million times. She always saw him with different girls every time. He's getting better now."

Unexpectedly, fury oozed itself into Sophia's bloodstream and made her murderous. She clutched her handkerchief till her knuckles were white and told Morgan to go fetch Howl in a tight, controlled way that made the boy realize that she was holding back screams and curses. The poor Morgan that was receiving the brunt of Sophia's controlled temper ran off quickly.

When he left, Sophia didn't understand why a green haze suddenly shot out from a tree and wrapped itself around her. The last thing she remembered when she closed her eyes was Morgan's retreating figure.

-Flashback-

Sophie's life was quite hectic, considering the fact that she was married to a famous wizard and that she had a two year old son who was very annoying. To top it all off, she was a witch that was clamoring to be independent but couldn't because of her duties as a mother. So when she heard of the request from the High Princess of Norland, she was very, very pleased. Here was a chance to prove Howl that she could solve a problem without much work. Until the good princess told her the job.

So, she took the opportunity to wait when Howl was again using the bathroom for two hours and then she started a divining spell. But what she saw wasn't what she wanted to see or rather expected.

Sophie saw herself going stone cold and then she saw her most precious people weep for her. Sophie was not contented of what her vision told her. She took another year to watch and saw Sophia. Quite concerned, she looked again for another week and had the shock of her life. Sophia must not stay in the castle.

Quickly, she started a spell to be able to speak to someone from the future.

-End of flashback-

When Sophia opened her eyes again, she was alone, in another place it seemed to her. After looking around for a while, she found out that she was not entirely alone.

"Who are you?" she asked fearfully the girl who was kneeling on the white floor.

The girl whirled around quickly and Sophia nearly jumped up in fright. _It was her look alike!_ Was her first thought, until she saw the eyes.

"Finally!" the girl-who-she-assumed-was-Sophie said irritably. "I was beginning to think you couldn't find me."

"What?"

"Okay Sophia, I don't have much time, so please listen carefully. You are in Wales, correct?" She nodded quickly. "Right. Stay there. Tell my idiotic husband to forget his plan. It could not cause any good."

"Ms." Sophia interrupted, struggling to keep up with the cryptic and mysterious conversation. "Am I right to assume that you are Howl's long deceased wife?"

"Of course!" The-woman-who-now-affirmed-she-was-Sophie said in an exasperated manner. "Did it take you that long to figure it out?"

Sophia was quite irritated by this since she was quite smart in her own field of expertise, math. Magic was something out of her territory. "Well, I'm not a witch, unlike you, so it really is good enough that I could come to that conclusion."

At these words, Sophie looked worried. "You're starting to act more like me."

"Could you explain to me why I look like you?"

Sophie looked around quickly, seeing something that Sophia couldn't. "I really don't have the time….Ah, well; you have a right to know." After one more, quick look around, she continued. "You see, my life was eaten away by the Witch's curse and my life went to her. When she died, my life went to Howl's world. I believe this place is called, Earth?"

Sophia nodded to assure her that she had the name right.

"Both of us are from the same spiritual bundle, we have the same strings of life. My life went to your pregnant mother. You are me and I am you."

Sophia tried hard not to look dumb at this revelation and proceeded with the question fest. "What about the stuff that you were saying earlier?"

Sophie looked around once more and looked more worried. "Since were made from the same bundle of life, everything that I have touched gives you a memory. Did you notice that you are starting to act strange?"

Sophia thought back to her time in the castle and nodded eagerly. "But I didn't notice at all."

"Everything you touched has a memory of me, so it's coming to you little by little."

Sophia's quick mind worked it out easily. "You are meaning to say that if I stay near where you used to live, I'll become like you?"

Sophie shook her head frantically. Something she saw in the whiteness was making her frightened. "That's not it. Sophia, you have to – "Then she was cut off.

"What is it?" she managed to ask before…..

Sophie screamed shrilly. She made some strange gestures and Sophia could no longer see her.

Even with the fact that the monster that made Sophie scream could not hurt her, Sophia was unsettled. Howl's long dead wife wanted to give her a message. A message that was cut off.


	9. Which is too full of problems to be decoded

Sophia stirred slightly, watched carefully by a concerned Morgan and a thoughtful Howl. The other castle inhabitants were a safe distance away. When she fully surfaced, Howl eased back to give Morgan the room he needed to jump at her.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "What happened? Did you see something? Were you attacked? Do you think I could take them down? Were they strong? Do you thin – "

Sophia cut him off. "Morgan, I'm alright." She tried to sit up but a hand restrained her. It was Martha. "Martha!"

"Hello to you too." She said in reply.

"Wha - ? Where am I?"

"Howl transported you back to the Castle when he saw the state you were in." Michael replied. He was hovering behind Martha and beyond Michael was….

"Who are you?"

It was a rather unnecessary question since the woman, who was Sophia's opposite in color, was quite like her. The man who hovered beside her protectively looked like a wizard, despite the clothes he was sporting.

"Sophia, this is Lettie and Ben. Remember my other sister?"

Lettie was watching-slash-ogling at Sophia until Ben elbowed her to remind her of her manners. "It's quite odd," Lettie said. "to be introduced to someone you felt you already knew."

"I know." Sophia nodded eagerly. "The feelings mutual."

Lettie gave her a wry smile that was cut off when Howl turned to business. "Sophia, what happened?" he asked or rather, demanded.

She gave him an exhausted look. "You tell me. Your wife came and talked to me. It was about something rather urgent."

Howl turned quite pale. It seemed an automatic reaction to look at a fellow wizard. His eyes went to Michael and Ben. Michael cocked his head to the side and concentrated for a second and Ben nodded. "I'd bet that to be closest to the truth." Howl said.

Lettie was also nodding slightly. Morgan was looking eagerly from each grown up to the next. Sophia, of course, was rather irritated.

"Look here." She started irritably. "I've just experienced the strange sensation of talking to someone who I believed was dead, to be transferred from place to place by the snap of a hand. I'm coping along as nicely as I could but this seems to be too much. Could you _please_ tell me what on earth is going on?"

Martha gave a small laugh. "Don't worry dear. You're not the only one in this crowd not understanding what's going on."

Sophia only had a small moment to feel gratified by that fact and then she turned on Howl. She raised an eyebrow and he looked at Ben.

"Sophia, dear." Ben spoke for the first time. "Would you mind very much telling us what happened in detail?"

"I would tell you," Sophia said with all the eagerness of a doomed person. "But I really can't describe so well."

Lettie moved forward. "A simple spell would do the trick," she muttered. She removed the gloves out of one hand and raised it to Sophia's eyes. Of course, her first reaction was to dodge it.

"What?" she asked in an alarmed tone.

Howl took hold of her arm for assurance but it had the opposite effect. Sophia backed against the headboard of the bed and looked simply terrified.

"Howl, Lettie, your scaring her." Martha scolded. Ben used the moment to bind Sophia against the board, rendering her useless for a few seconds.

"Lettie, now!"

Lettie moved, silk skirts and all and placed a hand on Sophia's eyes. Ben's spell had worn out by that time, but Sophia was already under Lettie's spell. It was the kind of spell that revealed the last magic that your mind had touched in the last twenty-four hours. If that kind of spell touched you, you would be forced to remember every magical encounter you had, and for Sophia, it was only one.

Ben's signal that Lettie had successfully infiltrated Sophia's memory was a gasp and then he began projecting what was in Lettie's mind that was linked to Sophia's. They saw and heard what both women had said and done when they conversed in Sophia's mind. When it ended, Howl was as pale as a sheet and the sisters were clutching each other's arms, trying hard not to cry. Morgan was staring at the projected images, trying hard to figure out who was who.

The silence when the magical film ended was so thick that someone could have placed something on air and it would have floated. Ben broke it.

"So," he said. "Howl, what plan was Sophie talking about?"

Howl gave a dry smile. "Something that only she would have realized. Apparently, now I have to watch my motives with Sophia."

"What motives?" Morgan asked.

"Nothing that you should know about," Howl dodged easily.

"But Howl, "Lettie cut in. "How did Sophie communicate with Sophia?"

Ben had been thinking about that and was the one who replied to her. "That was probably a particularly high-level communication spell she used. It was a message from Sophie when she was still alive. I think she might have done a divining spell before she did that."

Howl shot him a frown but said nothing scathing. Martha released a breath of relief at that. "More importantly, Sophie would not have wasted a communication spell just to say hello to the one who held sixty years of her life. I think we should investigate."

"I think mama's right." Morgan piped in. "Sophia doesn't just look like her. She acts like her too."

Sophia had had enough by this point. "Oh confound it!" she yelled to the ceiling. The people around had no other choice but to look at her, which was exactly what she wanted in the first place. "Could you quit talking about magic when I'm around, or rather, talking about me as if I'm a potted plant that you are taking notes from? It's rather irritating."

"Ma!" broke the rant that was coming out of Sophia. It would have lasted longer if it weren't for that word.

Lettie whirled around and caught a girl who was about Morgan's age, from tripping. This girl was easily recognized as Lettie's daughter. The girl caught sight of Sophia and gaped. "You look a lot like Morgan's ma," was what she said bluntly. It was said in a very Morgan-ish way that Sophia could feel a slight sense of de ja vu.

"Yeah, I hear that a lot." She said.

A quibble near the door way made the rest of the group look. It was a group of children, siblings one could tell, and they were laughing and pushing each other. It was quite noisy.

"Children!" Martha said loudly. All but one stilled from their argument. That one tumbled forward and smiled sweetly at Michael. Michael had no choice but to pick him up.

"Were home, mother," they chorused. They formed one obedient line and one by one hugged Martha. Sophia counted 8. The eldest seemed to have only lived through 13 years of age.

"I must ask." Sophia said out loud. "But is Martha really the mother of all these children?"

"Yes." Morgan said gravely. "Now that they're here, it seems that Martha and Michael will move out."

Seeing Sophia's puzzled look, Howl gave her a smile. "I'll tell you later. Meanwhile, let's do introductions." He moved to the eldest child, the one that seemed to have been born from Lettie. "This here is Margo." Margo gave her a dazzling smile and by then, Howl had already moved on to the beginning of the line that Martha's children created. "This one is Jam, Marc, Sammy, Jen, Aggie, Ben, Meg and this little boy is Chris."

Sophia had half a mind to grab a sheet of paper and write all of their names down. What she did though, was smile at each child, acknowledging them one by one. In turn, each child gave her a grin that occasionally had a black hole of teeth that got knocked out or fell loose.

"Hello!" the smallest child greeted.

Sophia didn't really hate children, but sometimes they could get troublesome. She felt a headache coming with the force of an elephant stampede. She had a little clue on why Morgan wasn't so happy to see _all_ of Martha's coup.


	10. Which is too full of decisions to make

Sophia found out, after a few seconds of meeting the children that they had been on vacation. The younger half went to Fanny, their grandmother. Two went to Lettie and the other two went to Prince Justin ad his wife, Princess Beatrice. Michael and Martha had also been temporarily in vacation inside Howl's castle. That part explained the entire reason why Morgan was gloomy when he saw the entire coup assembled together. He found the empty castle too depressing.

Sophia also found out that the large family wasn't moving out until the next day and that Martha was out of practice in dealing with misbehaving children. The other magical oriented adults were busy decoding the message that Sophie gave, so it left Martha, Morgan, Margo, Jam and Sophia to deal with the seven terrors.

"Jam – eh – I mean – Meg! Don't climb there! Its slippery, you might fall." Sophia called. With that warning, the child found more reason to climb on the slippery sink and of course, fell. Luckily for Meg, Margo had been near enough to catch her. Sophia only had time to give her a grateful smile before another suicidal child who was on a mission to drive his supervisors to insanity caught her attention.

"Ben! Not the window! Morgan, stop him!"

Morgan looked up from his place near the hearth where Calcifer was whizzing around, trying to catch Jen's attention, which he managed successfully. Morgan dashed up and stopped the child just in the nick of time.

A movement from the castle door alerted both that one child was trying to open the door and they released a sigh of relief when Jam caught the chubby, pink hand of Aggie. It was revealed to Sophia that only two portals were reliable in that door. One led to a dark portal(Wales), and another dropped you from an incredible height(castle door, remember that they're flying?). Only two portals opened that had actual safe flooring.

Martha was nursing Chris and was quite helpless. The other children ran rampant, playing with Howl's most prized collection of quills and nearly burning down Morgan's box of multi-colored feathers. Calcifer was having fun acting like an important toy for the children. They kept calling him, "Calcy! Calcy!" everywhere he went and would have tossed him around like a ping-pong ball if it weren't for Sophia's timely warning.

This set the entire day of the unfortunate trio. The end of the day found the children all around Martha, with Morgan and Sophia sleeping heavily, their energy drained. By that time, the three wizards and the witch already figured out what Sophie's message meant.

Sophia heard.

She was sleeping heavily and was quite contented already when the sound of whispered voices woke her up. She was quite ready to go back to bed when she realized they were talking about her encounter with the dead lady. She got up and eavesdropped.

"No!" a whispered exclamation made her jump. The voice sounded like Michael. "You can't do that to Sophia! Don't you see? Sophie did this so that we would be able to figure it out and save her!"

There were a few moments of silence and then Ben spoke. "Michaels right Howl. You can't do that to Sophia. It's rather unfair."

"That's just it!" Howl jumped in. "Sophia is my wife's property! She is a just a wandering bundle of spirit strings that's assuming an existence. Sophie has every right to come back to life through Sophia."

Sophia might have missed the next words with what Howl said. It nearly made her want to faint. So that's what Sophie was trying to say. Stay in Wales so that this won't happen. _If only she had listened!_ She thought angrily.

There was a sigh and then Lettie spoke. "Howl. Listen to reason. Sophie herself warned us about this. She does not want to come back."

There was a crack and Sophia jumped a little. "She can't not want to come back." The whisper was said brokenly and Sophia had a feeling that Howl was crying. "Look at what her death did to Morgan. He's chasing older girls, making the mistake in thinking that the love he was looking for was in that form. He only wants a mother. I could see that."

There was another session of silence and then Lettie spoke. "Howl. Think about Sophie's wishes. She cares about you and Morgan more than you would ever believe. Do you think that if she comes back now, Morgan would suddenly stop chasing after everything that wears a skirt? I don't think so."

There was a sound of silk rubbing against each other and then a gasp. "What do you want me to do, Lettie? Let her go?" there was a rustling movement at this point. "Let that bundle of spirit walk around with my wife's face?"

"Yes." Lettie said.

Sophia was already quite ready to faint at this point and she tip toed her way back to where she lay earlier, pretending that she hadn't heard a thing. But she had a feeling that Morgan's eyes closed itself when she lay beside him. She had a feeling that she wasn't the only one who was eavesdropping.


	11. In which Sophie's second message is revealed.

Despite all of Morgan's efforts not to eavesdrop, he failed. It was irresistible. One of the things that made Morgan less guilty was the fact that Sophia was listening too, albeit in a less discreet way. The other thing was his father's carelessness.

Howl was acting unlike himself, that much was obvious. Usually, he would have placed a charm that made eavesdropping impossible. The other wizards never gave much thought as to how the information they were discussing would affect the occupants of the other room.

It caused Morgan to toss and turn, also affected by Sophia's turning. He couldn't stop his thoughts from running rampant after hearing his father. It was unavoidable. His mind wouldn't stop imagining what would happen if Sophie did come back to life.

Finally, thoughts of his mother morphed into a dream and Morgan fell into the state of exhausted sleep. That is, only for several minutes.

_Morgan_

At first, he thought it was a dream. Until he realized that this voice was a voice that he didn't hear every day.

 _Morgan_ it came again. It forced Morgan's eyelids open.

"Mom?" he whispered.

He was in the realm of a spell. He knew that much. From what he could see, he was in-between times. The past and the present. The same place that Ben projected from Lettie's head.

"Morgan." Said a hushed voice behind him.

He whirled around and stopped himself from giving his mother a hug. One should never touch another when placed in-between times. "Mom."

She appraised him, looking him up and down. "You have grown nicely, but I don't think I can approve of your habits."

He blushed but neatly slithered out of having to answer that to her. "Don't you have something more important to tell me aside from pointing out my habits?"

She raised her eyebrows at that but said nothing to prove him wrong. He was right. She didn't have the time. But that didn't mean she couldn't chastise him about it. "You got the slithering-out habit from Howl, I see. Anyway Morgan, did Howl get my message?"

"Yes. He decoded it quite easily. He would have finished it within an hour if it weren't for Aunt Lettie and Uncle's Ben and Michael."

"They distracted him? Darn. What's his reply to my message?"

Morgan gulped. He had a bad feeling. "He doesn't like to return Sophia. He wants you to come back to life."

Sophie's eyes flared and Morgan resisted the urge to jump back. "He does, does he? He isn't thinking!"

"What?"

She whirled on him, as if she had temporarily forgotten he was there. "Have you studied the 'Universal Equations'?" He nodded and she continued. "One cannot bring back the dead, by any means possible without altering the formation of the stars and the bundle of life. That's in book 6, page 487, 6th line of chapter 9. You understand, don't you?"

Morgan went pale and he stared at his mother horror, only then realizing what her resurrection will bring.

The 'Universal Equations' was a series of books that told of all the forbidden acts in magic. There were certain ways to actually go around the rules of the series and that was called Black Magic. To be unable to avoid even one of the laws brought catastrophe. If you caused 1 and 1 to make 3, it would change the universe and possibly kill several hundreds of people.

"Morgan," Sophie pressed. "You have to do what Howl cannot. You have to return Sophie to…wherever she belongs."

"Argentina. What do I have to do?"

"Erase her memories and then return her to an apartment. A different one. Place millions of misdirection spells on her. Do anything. I. Must. Not. Come. Back." He nodded and she smiled. "That's my son. "

Oddly enough, his heart felt lighter and bigger when she said that. She raised an arm and tried to touch his cheek, knowing that she couldn't but she got close enough that it was almost the same. Morgan held back his tears. He forced his eyes open to memorize her face. He knew that it was only a matter of time before she was swept away from him again, ripped away by the flow of time she was stopping.


	12. Wherein Morgan takes matters into his own hands.

It was still dark when Morgan opened his eyes for the second time, but there was a pink tint to the skies that told him dawn was approaching.

He sat up, momentarily dazed but he regained his composure quickly. It did puzzle him as to why his cousins were sleeping around him. The other day seemed like two lifetimes ago. He carefully made his way to the fireplace. Calcifer was already up.

"Up rather early Morgan." Calcifer fizzed sarcastically.

"Oh shut up." Morgan hunted around for a chair and found none. He settled to kneeling in front of the hearth. "I need your help. Mom used a spell to talk to me."

"I know." Calcifer said. "That's what woke me in the first place. It was a rather powerful one."

Hope settled in him. He had always thought that convincing a fire demon was hard work. "Then could you help me? I don't know many misdirection spells yet."

Calcifer, a flaming bluebell, rose from the grate and hovered near the door. "This is working overtime." He whined. "If I help you, Howl would notice immediately. "Well, at least I can run away this time. You get to clean the green slime."

Morgan winced but didn't complain. In his memory, he didn't exactly see his father emit green slime but he had heard his Uncle Michael's gruesome stories about it.

"Are you coming or not?" Calcifer asked, moving back and forth near the door. "Come on! Pick her up already!"

"Wait a second will you? It's not as if Sophia is the lightest person in the world." He ambled over to where she lay and was about to pick her up when Calcifer nearly burned his hair. "What?"

"Are you an apprentice or not? Use the sleeping powder!"

"Oh, right."

The powder was spread with a small bang and Sophia slept more deeply. "Calcifer, could you open the door?" Morgan gasped as he slightly staggered.

"Oh for goodness sakes. You're acting as if you're not the son of a great wizard." Calcifer rolled his eyes and casted a hovering spell, making Morgan's burden lighter. Then, he proceeded to open the door, black blob down leaving a trail of purple sparks.

"Well sorry! It's not as if that wizard taught me this spell." Morgan said under his breath.

Upstairs, in Howl's bedroom door, Howl himself was sitting on the floor with his back against the door. He had heard everything.

He stayed up that night, intending to use a spell to go back to the past to talk to his wife but in turned out there was a distortion. It was the kind of thing one would feel when the spell went right but something else was blocking it. Sophie had gotten ahead of him and talked to their child.

"What an exasperating woman." He muttered under his breath. "She loves me so much that she wouldn't talk to me at all!"

He wasted a spell of interference just so he could listen to a conversation going on in the realm of the in-between worlds. It was ridiculous. If Mrs. Penstemmon was present, he would have been scolded for being so blind. Wasteful!

It was just like Sophie to clean up after his ridiculous, magical blunder of bringing a bundle of life with him home. It nearly made him want to weep. He missed her so much that it was a pain to be so close to Sophia, a string of life that she left behind. It was kind of pain that approached hatred. He couldn't bear to be near that creature. That was the only reason why he flirted with the sales ladies present in the shop. It was enough to dull his pain for a little while.

He didn't understand what possessed him to bring Sophia to the Castle. It was a whim that made him feel more foolish the more he thought about it. There was no point in letting Morgan deal with the heartbreak of losing a mother-figure for the second time. He was, without of doubt, the most cruel father in existence.

Howl silently listened as Martha and her children murmur in their sleep and had to smile ruefully. One day, Howl would find a way to ask for Morgan's forgiveness. But now that Morgan was still too young to understand how cruel Howl had been to him, Howl cherished his son's unrequited love for his father. Until the day Morgan would understand.

He waited a little for Sophie's spell to subside, and then he casted the same spell she used, albeit in a more powerful form. She gasped with surprise. He knew what she was seeing. He was only a transparent figure.

"Howl?" she asked with slight disbelief.

"Nice welcome, considering the fact that you talked to our son, Sophia and not me." He said cynically. All the same, he walked to where she sat on the workbench and sat beside her.

"Right, and who was it that blocked me?" she snapped.

"Me blocking you! You blocked me! I couldn't get to you because you went to Morgan!" he said with irritation.

"Good! If I had gone and talked to you, you would have wasted the spell by arguing!"

"As if!" he scoffed. "I don't argue, I just talk."

"Talk," she said, imitating his tone. "You should do more than talk. Listening is needed too. Morgan listens. You should follow his example."

"Example." He said with slight disbelief. "Who gave him that? You certainly don't listen and you claim that I don't either."

"Oh shut up. Don't change the subject."

Sophie had a lot more to say to him but the spell was fading fast. Both of them could see that. Quickly, he kissed her forehead and gave her a winning smile. "All of us miss you. I can't visit you after this. I think my past self would enter soon."

"He is coming. Try to keep them all happy, okay?"

"I always do." He said seriously. That was all he could do. She faded from his point of view and his throat constricted at the bittersweet feeling.


	13. Wherein Calcifer works a number of spells at once.

Morgan jumped a little and did a full turn. "Calcifer!" he whispered. "Where are you?"

"Right here," said a slightly crackling voice. Morgan did another spin and caught sight of the mysterious, glowing bluebell near his foot. Only, this bluebell looked slightly pale.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Sophia's sleeping form hovered behind them and he twitched his fingers impatiently. He _itched_ to be gone before anybody in the houses was up.

"A little surprised. There seems to be a lot of disturbance in this area." Calcifer shook himself and immediately looked better. "So where are we placing Sophia?"

"Wait, wait. Back up. What disturbance? I don't feel anything." Morgan forgot his impatience and knelt down to Calcifer's level.

"It's a strong kind. You ever notice that when you are going to a house with a misdirection spell? There's a lot of this all around here." Calcifer's orange, flaming eyes were looking surprisingly honest.

"I don't know. It feels the same to me." Morgan forgot about the disturbance Calcifer mentioned when there was a movement behind the house they were in front of. "Hurry! Pick a place where you think Sophia will be safest."

"Wait. Let me think." Calcifer said with a little wave of flaming hands.

"Hurry! Mari might see us!" Morgan looked highly alarmed making Calcifer sigh and transport them to another town, a few kilometers from where the portal was located.

"Happy?" Calcifer asked with high irritation.

"Thanks. Let's place her there." Morgan pointed towards a hotel that seemed innocent looking. "It's the kind of place that respectable ladies stay in."

Calcifer flew ahead. "How do you know that?"

"I heard from Dad that Aunt Megan had spent some days there when she was younger." Seeing Calcifer's shocked expression, Morgan added hastily, "But that was because it was her honeymoon with Uncle Gareth."

Calcifer recovered. "Whoa. You had me worried there. I thought that Megan was as bad as Howl when you said that."

Morgan colored a little and pretended to hold Sophia. Calcifer dived behind Morgan and cooled himself so as not to burn anything. The clerk at the desk looked a trifle shocked to see Morgan.

"Mr. Jenkins! What is the meaning of this?" She was obviously indicating Sophia's noticeable similarity with Sophie.

"Good Morning Ms! This woman looked so much like my mother that I had to talk to her. I guess she fainted when I told her." Morgan mentally thanked his lucky stars for listening to Howl lie with a straight face when he was younger. The clerk looked convinced immediately.

"Ah, I see. You are returning her then? What is her name?" The clerk moved to check their logbook and Morgan immediately jumped in to stop her.

"No actually, she didn't tell me where she was staying, so I thought that I could let her stay here until she wakes up." Morgan gave a bashful smile. "I hope you don't mind."

The clerk jumped and looked flustered. "Not at all sir! Do you have any room preference or would you like me to choose for you?"

Morgan gave her a smile and she turned a faint shade of pink. "I'm sure whatever room you pick for me will be wonderful." There was a little bit of crackle behind Morgan at this and he almost frowned in annoyance. Luckily, she didn't seem to notice.

The clerk placed her glasses on and then went ahead to look for a suitable room for Sophia, glancing at Morgan once in a while through her lashes. Morgan mentally calculated whether it was worth his time to take her on a drink or not. He decided against it.

"This one will be suitable for her sir. What is her name?" The pen hovered over a space in the logbook and Morgan silently applauded her. At least she was still sane.

"Sophia Heraldia."

"How similar." The clerk muttered. She turned around and got a set of keys. She gave them to Morgan. "Room 32. It has a lovely view." And then she added after looking at Morgan, "Would you like me to accompany you sir?"

It occurred to Morgan that normal people would probably ask for help when carrying an unconscious woman who probably weighed a lot more than they did, thus he was forced to smile at the clerk again and nod that he would dearly appreciate her help. The girl looked so pleased with herself that Morgan was sure she would have patted herself if she was alone.

"Mr. Jenkins, we weren't aware that you had returned with your father already from vacation." Morgan didn't hear this until there was a little fizz behind him. It filtered through his head slowly.

"Oh that. Actually, Dad was thinking of buying a house here. But I don't think he'll go through with it." He gave a careless shrug. "I didn't expect to be back either."

"But you are," the clerk said seriously. "How about a drink to celebrate your return?"

Morgan surprised himself by saying, "Thanks, but no thanks. I got a girlfriend during the summer." He knew Calcifer was surprised too since there was another crackle from behind.

"That's too bad." The clerk said with a pout. Thankfully, Morgan was spared from having to answer that when they arrived at the designated room.

"The coast is clear Calcifer." Morgan said as soon as the clerk departed. Calcifer flew up in a trail of purple sparks.

"Thank god!" Calcifer spat and whined. "I thought I was going to endure that the whole morning!"

"Oh shut up." Morgan snapped. "The bed, right?"

"What do you think, Casanova?" Calcifer snapped back. Both glared at each other for a few moments until Sophia began to moan. "Hurry up, Morgan!"

"I'm on it!" He moved quickly and settled Sophia on the flowery pink bed. He jumped back immediately and Calcifer worked a series of complex spells in a few minutes. Morgan helped matters by charming the walls from releasing any of the hisses and bangs that Calcifer was making. Suddenly, Calcifer stopped.

"Done?" Morgan asked. Calcifer looked slightly purple.

"Yeah…but that disturbance is really bugging me."

"Oh, bother that disturbance. Let's hurry and get out of here before she wakes up and sees us." Morgan removed the charm and then moved towards the door. Calcifer hesitated. "Calcifer!"

"Shut it! She won't exactly recognize us since I placed a memory modification spell on her for the two days she was with us." All the same, Calcifer followed Morgan and turned cool again.

They managed as far as three doors down and then Morgan broke down. He swallowed several times and breathed shakily. "I'll miss her, Calcifer."

The fire demon hovered near his shoulder and looked sympathic. "This is worse, huh?"

"Yeah. Coz this time, I actually _remembe_ r it." Morgan swallowed again and nodded at Calcifer to transport them to the portal.


	14. In which there is a new threat that deeply involves Sophia.

Sophia opened her eyes a crank and then moaned at the bright light. She rolled over and got up from the bed. Except, she didn't expect the bed to be flowery and _pink_. It didn't smell strange anymore either. It smelled like cheap laundry bleach. Wait, Sophia thought. Did that even exist in this place? Where does this smell come from?

"Where the hell am I?" she asked to the pillow. The last thing she remembered was a castle, three wizards and one boy. Oh, and several children that she guarded from certain dangers. She still had the soreness to prove that she had done a slide on the floor to save a particularly suicidal child. So why the hell wasn't she in the castle?

"Well," Sophia said chattily to the pillow. "I really can't solve this mystery by just sitting here, can I?" The pillow looked innocently silent. "You're right. I must be going crazy by talking to you."

She made herself roll up in a proper sitting position and assessed her surroundings, calculating how this was going to burn a hole right through her wallet. It looked shiny and expensive. Her algebraic calculations were interrupted when the sound of a car rumbling to a stop was heard through her window.

"What the hell." She mumbled. "I'm back in Wales. Unless cars exist in this world. Did Howl actually use his common sense and listen to Lettie?"

She hurried towards the window and saw that she was indeed back in Wales. She was dazed for a second before she understood what really happened. A sound of walking feet alerted her that she was going to be having visitors soon and she began to form an escape route after a speedy observation of the distance of the window to the ground and the effect of the momentum on her knees and bones. What made her smile was a rose trellis.

Quickly, before anybody could notice she was in the room, she hopped out of the window and slid down the rose trellis. Of course she was spotted. Especially when she was wearing a very eye-catching attire.

"Be ashamed of yourself." The old woman said. "Sliding down rose trellises is not what young women do. What is your name child?"

"Sophia." She stuttered.

"Ah, the girl who looks like Mr. Jenkins' wife. Funny how that works." The old woman hobbled away on her cane and crossed the street expertly. Sophia stared after her for a second and then began walking, except, she had no idea where she was.

"Oh, for god's sake." She said to a potted plant. "Why can't Howl have placed me in my apartment? I just can't understand these wizards!"

A passing pedestrian apparently heard her last sentence and stared at her like she was crazy. Well, with her newly acquired tendency of suddenly talking to inanimate objects, she probably was already. (Sophie-like attitude anyone?)

Having no other choice, she went to store and asked where she was in Wales. The clerk looked at her like she was an alien from another planet.

"Don't you look at where you go, young lady?" the store manager asked her.

"Well sir, I usually do, but this time, I was taken by a man who told me that I looked like his dead wife. Trust me, the feeling is very strange." She answered without thought.

The store manager started and went away from her like she carried the plague. The other people in the store did the same thing, with varying levels of exaggeration. Except one lady.

"You're talking about my brother." The lady said in a secretive tone. "Take my advice; don't tell anybody else that you're acquainted with him. He's bad news. That no good outlaw."

Sophia stared at the woman and only then realized that Howl looked a lot like this person. What puzzled her was why Howls sister would speak about him like he was Bluebeard. "But Ms, Mr. Jenkins was extremely kind to me during my stay at his castle."

To Sophia's surprise, the woman burst into bitter laughter. "A castle? Howell having a castle? He must have really addled your brain. Your apartment is in that direction." She pointed behind her and walked away while shaking her head.

"Okay….."she said to the nearby chair. "What was that all about?"

An inner instinct told her to follow the lady, and she shut her trap. But she guessed that it was already too late. Word spread like wildfire that she was taken by Howl and people began to whisper. One person in particular, was duly interested in the news.

"Really?" he asked the gossip monger.

"Yeah. There's really a lot of speculation going around that Mr. Jenkins is going to return to Wales, now that there is something to hold him here. His son was spotted bringing the girl here himself. Oh, and did you know that Mary was turned down by Morgan? That young man told Mary that he already had a girlfriend. Of course, no one would buy that. Would you, Mr. Thomasine? There is a lot of talk on that too. Which one is interested in the girl, the father or the son? Either way, I still think that poor girl should be left alone. She did nothing wrong, just look like someone. And here I thought…"

There was still plenty more, but the wizard tuned out the noise created by the clerk. He was more interested on where the girl was located, and where the Wizard Howl had taken her. He began a massive spell that caused him to listen to every conversation in the vicinity.

Quickly, words and broken conversations bombarded his ears. For normal people, this would have driven them mad. Arthur was used to it.

"Damn, I ate that rotten egg….." "What do we have for breakfast...?" "Did you see my t-shirt? I placed it….." "Hey, I saw you kissing Jane yesterday! You have nerve …" "Did you finish that geometry assignment? I left it in my…." "Where will we meet today? Oh, by the way, yesterday was wonderful you were so wild and….." And a number more about things Arthur did not care to hear. Then…

"Did you hear about the news about Jenkins? They say it's the same woman…" "Oh, no! Another victim for the Jenkins? They can't get any crueler…." "Another prey huh? They never rest, do they? Such an intriguing….." "Don't speak about the girl like she would actually get paired with _him_. It's not like he's….." "Is she such a slut? Going after that family…." "She must have known beforehand about her look-alike. Where does she stay in?"

Arthur focused on the last broken conversation he heard and tuned the others out.

"They say she's in an apartment in the south road. Mr. Caryl's place will run out of business for a long time. The old superstitions still survive. "

"Poor Mr. Caryl. He was expecting business this month. It's his daughters' graduation next month you see."

"Poor man. I do so like his daughter….." and then the spell broke. Just like a million other strong spells that he had been casting lately. But for the first time, Arthur did not care about his failure. For the first time in months, Arthur smiled his true, evil and diabolical smile.

He had been approaching a certain house for days and he had found it impossible to breach due to the great magnitude of spells that had blocked him. It was the kind of spell that the Royal Wizard of Ingary was capable of.

He had waited so long for revenge. It was almost too hard to believe that he had found an entry to the sweetest revenge possible; a revenge that would no doubt leave a scar on Howl's heart. Just like it had when he was rejected by a woman he loved because of the Howl. He couldn't wait.


	15. wherein different forms of mischief appear

Calcifer watched as Morgan twittered nervously near the hearth, as though asking him for protection. Anybody with a less practiced eye would not have noticed how nervous Morgan was. The only outward sign was the twirling of the jade ring that Sophie had left for him until he was big enough to wear it.

Then, Calcifer felt a transport spell originating from Howl's bedroom. Calcifer got an idea.

"Relax Morgan. Remember, you're not confessing to stealing the kings' crown here, alright?" Calcifer said.

The young man winced. "It's something close to that. Dad would probably send me to eternal oblivion, or something."

The transport spell was nearly complete, and Howl was half in the living room and half within his room. Calcifer would have laughed. "Oh, come on! Howl is not that bad, _yet_."

Morgan scowled at Calcifer's choice of words. "Yet? You couldn't get anymore tactless."

Calcifer's pity for the boy vanished along with the quick arrival of a sudden need to be dramatic. "Fine. It seems that my honesty goes unrewarded. Deal with the green slime yourself." He flew up in a trail of purple sparks and would have flown out of an open window if it weren't for a blue and silver sleeve blocking his way. Calcifer knew he was caught.

"Good morning dad." Morgan said nervously.

Howl's green marble eyes didn't look at Morgan, but his expression accepted the greeting. His eyes were on Calcifer.

"Good morning Morgan. You and Calcifer were really having a very interesting conversation." His eyes penetrated through the fire demon, and Calcifer had a hard time holding back his laughter. He knew he was turning another shade of blue; he just had no time to register what color exactly.

"Ah, about that..dad, um…I uh-"Morgan's stuttering was cut off when there was a wail from one of the children.

"Mama! Soph is no longer in here!" Ben yelled.

There was a pattering of little feet and then more wails. Morgan and Calcifer exchanged looks of horror. How were they going to tell the children? Howl was calm when a harassed-looking Martha was dragged by her children all the way down the stairs.

"Well?" she gasped out at Howl.

"You shouldn't ask me." The wizard said with convincing innocence. "I just woke up myself and came down to have breakfast in our new stove. Morgan here should know. He was up way before me." Adding to the effects of the dazzling smile was a wink and a head toss in Morgan's direction. Martha fell for Howl's slithering out act, hook, line and sinker.

"Morgan?"

"We-well, Sophia is already back in Wales. She pleaded to me last night that she wanted to go home." After Howls dazzlingly perfect performance of slithering out, Morgan looked like a faded carbon copy. Martha noticed what happened only after Calcifer crackled in laughter.

"Like father, like son." She snapped irritably. "You deal with the children while I take a bath for an hour. Calcifer, hot water please."

"What?" all males gasped in surprise.

Martha was already in the bathroom, happily wasting Calcifer's hot water. Howl turned at Morgan and Calcifer and glared. The latter cracked up in more laughter, while the former seemed to become suddenly interested in the patterns created by the floor boards.

"Good grief." Howl muttered.

It occurred to Morgan that Howl was _too_ relaxed when little Ben mentioned that Sophia was gone. "You know?"

Howl pretended not to hear and moved towards the stove to cook himself a plate of corned beef. It was only ploy, however, for Howl knew that he would have to answer Morgan, sooner or later. He decided to answer it with a question. "How did you place her in Wales?"

There was a release of breath from Morgan and Howl smiled.

"Um, Calcifer did most of it." The young man said honestly. "He casted the hovering charm, the teleportation spell, the memory modification spell and some others. I only helped by acting and casting a charm."

Calcifer took the compliments well and glowed a deep blue. He thought of repaying Morgan by telling Howl everything that Morgan did. Howl cracked up.

"He what?" Howl gasped between laughter.

"I did not!" Morgan protested weakly at the same time.

"He declined a date Howl! Your little duckling is growing up!" Calcifer said. This caused another round of shrieking laughter and weak protests. The children looked at this display of idiocy with curiosity. They actually behaved out of fear that the attention of those on display would turn to them.

Finally, some common sense entered Calcifer and he stopped speaking. Morgan had turned into three shades darker.

"I'm going out." He called to them and vanished out of the door, orange blob turned down. Oh, and of course the children started to misbehave then.

"I want bluebell!" Jen declared stoutly with her little fists open to catch Calcifer.

"No!" Ben argued. "I want the bluebell. Mine!"

The other children started arguing over catching Calcifer too. Calcifer, meanwhile, escaped this way and that, enjoying the exercise.

"Michael!" Howl yelled, dragging the poor sleepless father from his bed.

"Wha-what?" Michael asked. He surveyed the scene of chaos and sighed in relief. "You don't have to shout like that, I imagined the worst."

"Like what?" Calcifer asked while dodging a chubby fist. "One of the kids stumbling off to another world?"

The father paled and scolded Calcifer for his thoughts. Calcifer just laughed off Michael's worry and flew high amongst the low, black beams. The children wailed in unison.

Then, something told Calcifer that he should warn Howl about the disturbance in Wales. It was an inner instinct, borne from staying with a person who kept running away.

 _Hey Howl_ , Calcifer said telepathically. _While I was in Wales with Morgan, I felt a high disturbance. It was really strong._

_How high was it?_

_Really high. The kind of disturbance an area gets when too many incomplete and unsuccessful spells have been casted in high magnitudes of power. It's like, the caster thought that he would be successful but wasn't._

Howl was silent for a moment, concentrating on breakfast and then he started to give out ideas.

_Maybe it was a passing amateur?_

_A passing amateur who would cast really strong, unsuccessful spells near your sister's house?_

Howl turned very still and looked at Calcifer. _What are you implying?_

_What do you think? And remember, we left Sophia there. People talk. Morgan carried her, unconscious. There will be a lot of speculation about that if what you told me about your world is true._

The wizards eyes widened in alarm. _And what the hell did Morgan tell the attendant?_

_Um…that you were back from your trip and that he had a girlfriend already._

Howl started to shake with silent laughter and Calcifer scowled. Oh, it was only something highly amusing for the great Royal Wizard Howl. _Good god. The child's reputation in Wales will worsen._

_Enough about Morgan's reputation, what about the disturbance?_

Howl composed himself and sent an irritable glance to Calcifer while taking the corned beef off the pan. _I won't ignore it, if that's what you're getting at. How about paying a visit to my sister?_

_Take care, Howl .You can't visit your sister that easily. You have enemies. Quite a lot actually, if you include in the count the number of suitors that are against Morgan with your record._

Howl ignored the jibe and ordered the children to gather for breakfast.


	16. Which reveals secrets and reasons

Despite Calcifer's warning, Howl did visit Megan that afternoon. But the visit was fruitful, despite Megan's un-hospitability, for Howl recognized the signature stamped all over the failed spells. But even with this achievement, Howl was in a foul mood when he returned to the castle. The reason was only one thing.

 _Mari_.

The little, innocent child who had adored every word of her Uncle Howell was gone, replaced by a woman who was a kinder version of Megan. The tales that Howl used to tell her when she was still a child that only she had believed was something she would frown over now. She was very like Megan. The painful thing for the poor Uncle was that those tales were true. And now, nobody would ever welcome him in his childhood home, not even his niece or his sister.

For one mad moment, Howl had half the mind of bringing his sisters family to his castle, just to reveal to them that he had been telling very true stories, but he had dismissed it quickly. It was too late now. Megan would never allow him to cross her threshold ever again and Mari would no longer drop everything she was doing for him. It was painful, but it was his entire fault. If only he had listened to Sophie about showing his sister the world he lived in. He had told her back then that Ingary was much too dangerous for his relatives. What a lie. He could easily have protected them with a simple spell. Coward, she had snapped.

Howl was interrupted from his vigil in his bedroom by the mysterious thumps coming from the second bedroom door. After a moment's concentration, it was revealed to be an argument between Michael and the mob of his children.

"No! We want to stay in the castle, papa. Bluebell likes us here too." A determined Marc was saying.

"Children, we cannot stay here forever. We don't want to distract a Royal Wizard from his duties, do we? What would happen if the king himself discovers that you were the reason why the kingdom lost a war?" Michael answered smartly.

The children broke into Babel. The younger ones who hadn't understood what their father said was scolded by the older ones for their stubbornness. Finally, there was silence.

"Alright, let's pack our trunks, shall we children?" Martha said to break the silence.

There were shuffles as this was obeyed by the brood. Aggie's voice, in particular, could be heard demanding for her doll that was thrown on the highest shelf by a mischievous older sibling.

Howl was so out of it that he didn't notice Calcifer sneaking up on him.

"And 'Boo!' said the ghost!" Calcifer said as he zipped around Howl. Calcifer noticed Howl's mood and made a snide comment that worsened Howls temper.

"What's this? A dejected wizard? Who would have thought you would miss Sophia this bad?"

Howl, who wasn't even thinking about Sophia, glared at Calcifer and snapped. "If you even think of that a second more, you're a toad."

"What's up with this crabby temperament? Ate a fire demon lately?"

Howl's answer was a groan and he flopped on the bed along with a dramatic air. "Alas, the truest cruelty of all revealed." He said theatrically. "Here I am, saddened and depressed and a creature of low intelligence comes and cruelly tortures my very mental capacity."

Calcifer bristled. "Oh get it together Howl. All insults and puzzling moods aside, did you feel the disturbance?"

Howl sat up and stared at Calcifer wearily. "Yes. It was a familiar. I do believe I have dealt with it before. It was really very…strange."

The fire demon turned a lighter shade of blue in his excitement. "Really? Do you think you could trace the spell caster?"

"Wait," Howl said and he turned thoughtful for a moment. "I dealt with that kind of power when I went to…..my world. There was a wizard there who had a very wonderful…"

He trailed off, then burst out laughing as the answer struck him.

"What?" Calcifer demanded.

Howl composed himself for a few moments and told Calcifer. "I went on a trip to Switzerland. I met a wizard who self-studied on magic, making self-made spells. He was pretty good, really was. But his spells had a limit because, well, he was powerful but unable to concentrate on anything. It was stupid actually. Anyway, this wizard had a very beautiful personal maid. I do believe I courted her for a few times. She fell pretty easily."

He ended this revelation with a shrug and Calcifer shook his head. "I should have known. If only Sophie knew about this, she would be very pissed. She does dote on Mari too, you know."

Howl had momentarily forgotten his gloom about Mari and at Calcifer's mention of her name, he remembered. His expression turned sour while he watched the enchanted window in his bedroom.

"What?!" Calcifer gasped. "Did I hit the nail on the head?"

"How on earth did the topic reach Mari?" Howl snarled.

Calcifer turned orange with surprise. Howl never snarled at him. "This self-study wizard could endanger the life of your niece. It did seem as though the unsuccessful breaching spells on that air was aimed specifically for the house. It's a good thing you left those protective shields up."

Howl forgot to be foul for a moment. "You didn't tell me that!"

"You could have noticed for yourself!" Calcifer retorted back. "Or was there another skirt that you chased when you were there?"

Howl did not give a second moment of thought to the jibe. He immediately began to plan. "Where's Morgan?"

Calcifer stared at Howl for his change of tone before answering. "I think he went to Mrs. Fairfax's place. An escape from all the notorious wizards in his life, perhaps?"

The comment went unnoticed again when Michael yelled. "Howl, Calcifer, we're going!"

Calcifer flew up. "Wait a moment." And then he turned to Howl. "Aren't you going to say goodbye to the children?"

Howl stopped his plans of defense for only a moment. "If I must," he muttered before standing up and placing a look of little sadness on the departure. Calcifer could tell that it was another of Howl's false masks.

"Morgan dear, How are things going in Howl's Castle?" Mrs. Fairfax asked him as she proceeded to serve mountains of hash browns and salads in front of Morgan. Morgan felt himself wince at the platter.

"It's all going peacefully now." He answered her while taking a small piece from the precariously balanced hash. "Uncle Michael and Aunt Martha are going out today. It was a bit hectic with all of the children there, but with Margo there and with Meg a little bit bigger, I think it wasn't as bad as their visit last year."

Mrs. Fairfax smiled and started the skipping rope. "Oh yes, it is quite lovely to have somebody help you take care of children, especially when they're all ten. I wonder what Martha was thinking when she wanted ten. Oh, did I tell you dear? Your Aunt Martha was supposed to be my apprentice after her father died. She only stayed here for a week. After that, she switched places with your Aunt Lettie. She used my spell you know."

And so, the skipping rope was left to run free while Morgan enjoyed the pleasant chatter of Mrs. Fairfax the entire afternoon. It was a sharp relief to what he usually did every afternoon; courting women with high nobility and pride sometimes wore him down and that, added with the recent arrival and departure of Sophia, it drained him emotionally, physically and mentally.

"So Morgan," Mrs. Fairfax was saying. "What is Howl doing this during the 16th of September? Last year, he made the flying castle weave the smoke from the turrets into words in the sky. I do believe that the phrase was… "11th anniversary of her death…" or something of that sort." And the skipping rope stopped for the first time, with Mrs. Fairfax waiting for Morgan's answer.

Morgan gulped down his juice hastily. "Ah, it's already nearing the 16th, huh? I don't know. Dad always does some odd and downright eccentric stunts on Mom's death date."

Mrs. Fairfax gave a sigh. "Sophie, good 'ole Sophie. She was always the most complacent among the three sisters. Did you know Morgan that whenever I visited them, Sophie was always there being the most obedient and kind despite all of Fanny's orders? Who would have thought that Sophie had the highest temper among those three? It was just shocking for me when I saw her arguing once with Wizard Howl. I didn't even know that she had magic, though I had always felt something special with that lovely girl….."

Morgan was set for a very long visit.

Before Sophie had died, she knew she was coming and what date she was set to go, so she used up all the time she had left to set up security measures to Howl and Morgan, the kinds that Howl wouldn't bother with because it used up too much mental energy and potions and charms. Somehow, she managed to insert it to Howls wardrobe in the form of a silver ornament with one, gold-encrusted part that would scream at Howl if anything was attacking him, his friends or relatives or even getting remotely close to injuring any part of their being. For Morgan, it was the old, Hatter jade ring heirloom which she charmed. She managed to give it to her son, so he was protected anywhere he went, wherever he was or whatever he was doing. Her concern went that far.


	17. Which shows the commencement of an attack

Arthur Thomasine planned his move very carefully.

First, he placed strong, sleeping powder throughout the entire inn, and then he entered the girl's room with a cat-like ability of silence. Apparently, the girl was unaffected by any magic of sorts since the gas created by the powder hovered around her, yet it did not touch her.

How very touching! Arthur thought snidely and cruelly. The good wizard Howl had placed a defense coat for the girl.

Left with no other choice, he attacked the defense barrier head-on. He didn't like to rely on his magic for it had been very unstable for the past few days, but to his surprise, it wasn't Howls signature stamped all over the cloak but it was hers alone. The girl had magic! Slowly but surely, he peeled it off carefully and entered her mind. It came to him like a waterfall of thought.

What he received primarily were her dreams, then he had her subconscious mind, then he got to it. It was a very core knowledge that was protected by another spell. He went at it with a vengeance, only to be stumped. To his utter frustration, the spell he had casted to pry the barrier open was broken. He had to start again.

He went through the same process, then broke the protection shield. It entered his mind. He screamed halfway at the shock of it, and so did she albeit in a much longer form. He had opened the memories that did not belong to her. He had opened memories that belonged to the wife of the Royal Wizard Howl.

He, himself holding a little boy, feeling over flooded with emotion that was not his. He remembered dancing with the Wizard Howl, feeling utterly happy at being held by him but at the same time, he was Arthur, a different entity and individual that absolutely abhorred Howl. He remembered scolding a pair of girls whom he/she called sisters. Every single memory of Sophie Pendragon was replayed to Arthur in flashback mode.

This should have been fine since the Witch's spell would cause the protective barrier to close and then Sophia would forget Sophie again. But since it was Arthur who had opened it, it had a very disastrous effect. His hatred and sheer power combined was the greatest spell he had ever invented so far. He dissolved the protective spell and tainted the memories of Sophie Pendragon. Sophia was now two people. Unfortunately, Arthur understood this knowledge.

"Awaken," he whispered to the weeping figure when the spell broke, yet again. "I am your true master. Your husband has forsaken you. You are one yet you are two, and it is all his fault. He **caused** you to forget your true identity, but he has also caused you to suffer severely."

The weeping figure slowly sat up and Arthur nearly jumped back when he saw the unearthly color of her eyes. It was sky blue, yet one eye was silver.

"He would not do that to us," said she with an echo of another voice. It seemed that when Arthur had opened the seal on the memories, it had also asserted Sophie's intimidating character.

Arthur shook himself and smiled at her. "No, he would not. But he has done so to your child."

She shook with silent fury upon registering his words and she abruptly stood up, scaring away half of Arthur's wits.

"Nobody would touch him." She snarled at no one in particular.

"He already has. Your child suffers greatly. He yearns for you, yet he cannot find you. Howl has caused this. He was an enemy of many and entangled you with it. His enemy casted the spell to hurt him, yet you somehow caught it. You are the victim. You should make Howl pay."

What Arthur could not understand was that, no matter how much of his anger had tainted Sophie's memories, Sophie was still Sophie in character and she could not hurt anyone she knew for a long time. It took Arthur a while to understand this, but understand it he did. When he did however, she was in great danger.

Howl was trying to ignore the shrill whistling that seemed to be originating from his closet and was at the same time trying to get back to sleep.

It just another charmed object which Morgan or maybe Michael forgot to dis-spell, he said to himself as it went on and on. To his consternation, Morgan burst in his room, clothed only in the barest of clothes, holding another source of the same noise.

"Dad! Why the hell is the ring shrieking!?" Morgan yelled to be heard above the noise.

Howl held up the universal signal for quiet and searched around his closet for the other noise maker. He came up with a strange looking device that he would have never bought. At the same time, Howls eardrums decided that they had had too much of the whistling. He brought his hand up and casted a momentary silence charm.

"Whew!" gasped Calcifer suddenly out of nowhere. This caused both men to jump in surprise. He, however, had urgent news to discuss and had little time to bother about the comfort of Howl and Morgan. "I thought that would never stop. But placing the noise aside, we should focus on the reason of the noise. Howl, we have to-"

He was interrupted by Morgan's lovely tendency to be annoying when the time didn't need it. "Wait, what do you mean by the importance of the noise?"

Calcifer suppressed a sigh and patiently explained it to Morgan while Howl hung on to the words as he jumped into respectable pieces of clothing. "Morgan," Calcifer was saying. "The items that are ringing are charmed by Sophie. She casted the Six-Hundred-Thousandth spell and the Eighteen Months and Six Years spell." There was a thump at this since Howl had tripped on his trousers when he was in the process of placing them on.

"What!" Howl gasped. "She casted those spells? No wonder I lost a great part of my potion cupboard! It was her doing all along, not Michaels….and here I thought that.." and he drifted off as he realized the gravity of the situation.

A Six-Hundred-Thousandth spell was a spell that crossed dimensions and the Eighteen Months and Six Years spell took Eighteen Months to prepare and Six Years to cast. It was a very powerful protection and warning spell that was sometimes used by wizards with the great gift of foresight. By combining both, Sophie had created the perfect alarm system.

Howl and Calcifer nodded to each other in unison and they had reached an understanding. Sophia must have somehow been included in the spell. It was the only explanation they could think of. But bearing in mind that there was a million other people who were possibly included in the spell, Howl could not risk it. But the only person that really needed protection was Sophia. Martha had Michael and Michael had a very smart troll guarding him 24/7. Lettie could take care of Margo and Ben and Ben could do so too. Mrs. Fairfax was too aware of everything not to be protected and she kept a daily check on everybody. Calcifer had full contact with Michael and could be counted on for dropping anytime possible. It had no holes, only Sophia.

Morgan, however, was still confused. "Okay, so she casted those spells. What's the point of the trouble?"

Calcifer waved off Morgan's curiosity. Now was not the time. "Later Morgan, we'll have a wonderful time doing storytelling about these rarely used spells, but now…"

"Morgan," Howl started in a commanding tone that had Morgan jumping as straight as a rod. "stay here and contact your Uncle Ben's mirrors. Send him a message and ask him to check everybody that I know about. Secure your Aunt and Grandmother. Make sure they're alright."

"I got it." He answered and was gone. Howl took a short, mini second to contemplate and then he stood up abruptly.

"I am absolutely terrified of what I might find." He said to Calcifer.

"You think we aren't? That little boy is probably more terrified than you. He loves Sophia, as a mother. You didn't see the look in his eyes when he realized that she would no longer know he existed." Calcifer replied brutally. He knew that it was in these moments that Howl would turn tail and hide. Howl needed him to be cruel at the moment. This part was crucial if they were to even step in Wales.

It worked. Howl's eyes flashed and he rounded on Calcifer. Calcifer used the opportunity and was slowly backing them to the portal in Wales.

"Really? Who was it then that told me that he had casted a spell to make her forget about us? Were you thinking of Morgan when you did that?"

The portal had opened and Howl didn't notice. He was too busy getting angry. He noticed at the last minute and stared at the fire demon in surprise.

"You know, you actually succeeded in making a coward honest." Was all he managed to say.

"Then, more power to me." Calcifer said in mock jubilation. "Hurry up! Where is Sophia?" But even as he said this, he was backing up and closing the portal. He hurried up to accomplish the task that he had to do.

Howl was already a step ahead of him and was placing up additional protection to his sisters' family. Then, he started to take off in the direction of Sophia, using a simple speed spell that worked as good as any spell he could think of.

"So when we get there, what are the scenarios you could play out?" Michael asked, dropping out of nowhere.

"All we can hope for is that she's still alive. I left Calcifer in the castle. He'll come when he finishes some business."

They burst through the inn, covered their noses with their silk sleeves and surveyed the damage it had caused to the poor, innocent bystanders. It was a very weak sleeping powder, imbedded with plenty of mistakes and errors. Michael shook his head as he surveyed the terrible effects of the potion.

 _Howl, I think this guy really hates you,_ was all Michael managed to conclude.

 _Thanks. I think I worked out that much myself. Could we leave the chitchat for later?_ They moved farther into the inn and discovered Sophia's open door, reeking of magic and power. They exchanged worried looks. _Stay here. There's a chance that I'll need to be heroic._

Michael managed to grin while rolling his eyes at this blatant show of fear. Despite this, he nodded and Howl entered. What Howl first saw made him freeze like he was shot.


	18. Wherein too much magic is used

It was Howl! Sophia-Sophie's eyes widened when they saw him. They actually managed to back up a number of steps before the mutilated, dirty memories that Arthur tainted, resurfaced. It was conflicting for them, but the crueler side won out. After all, in their point of view, Howl had definitely hurt Morgan.

"Howl Pendragon." They said with great anger. In their peripheral view, they saw Arthur smiling. "What have you done with our child?"

They casted a spell that sent Howl reeling back, but he immediately righted himself. "Morgan is fine. Are you alright, Sophie?"

They didn't understand why he only called out one name. There were two of them! One part of them screamed in vicious envy and the other shrieked in mournful agony. One was only a replacement, the other was only temporary. One was an accident and the other was supposed to be gone. It was too much for them. They uttered out a series of curses, causing broken plaster and other things to fall all over the place.

"Are you alright?" he asked again, dodging everything she casted in his way with ease. Howl felt a little ill at ease having to do nothing. In all honesty, he couldn't. No, he was powerless as long as Sophia-Sophie kept attacking. He would never hurt her, not while she looked like his Sophie.

Arthur decided that they needed more motivation. "See? He even tries to treat you like you still meant something to him! He really has quite the courage, doesn't he?"

Michael, nearby, tried to suppress a snicker at Arthurs terrible choice of words. Courage? Howl was trembling badly for need of it at the moment. What placed a stopper to Michael mirth was when Sophia-Sophie laughed maniacally. It was not a pleasant sound.

"I do believe you speak the truth," she said with a demonic smile. "I think I shall start to get serious." She raised a hand and started to make things really harder for Howl. She **caused** things to burn and go after him.

Arthur, meanwhile, was busy casting little safe spells that would make their way to Howl when he would get defeated. He played safe that way. He knew that he would get defeated; Sophia-Sophie was too unstable and could betray him at any moment.

"Sophie," Howl called out cajolingly. He appeared to have suffered no injury at all. "I really have tried to raise Morgan as you have started. He suffers no pain for now, only the current loss of the person whom you embody."

She seemed to endure great pain from the words Howl uttered. She went a little pale and her material assault faltered for a moment. Then, as if renewed by some unknown force, she moved again and actually managed to cast a lightning bolt. Howl had to block it but the shield he used was too weak, he had underestimated her; it got through and rendered Howl's left arm useless.

Sophia-Sophie did not understand why their heart wrenched when they saw him bleed because of them. They paused for a moment and was undecided on where their allegiance really lay.

Meanwhile-

Calcifer frantically started the Meditation. He knew that it would take 35 seconds to cast and even for him, there was only a 15 percent advantage. It was the only thing that would save Howl.

A Meditation was a spell that would slowly divide the enemy. It was exactly what could counter the damage wrought by Arthur on Sophia, as what Howl believed anyway. Calcifer and Howl still kept up a connection even if they were already free from the binds of the Contract that was how Calcifer knew that Howl needed a Meditation casted on Sophia.

It might be what other wizards would call dangerous since the evil of the fire demon could penetrate, but Howl kept himself detached from Calcifer's influencing nature and he had other matters in which he kept himself abstained from strengthening the connection. In short, it was a safe runway of magic that was rarely used and tapped on.

First, Calcifer had to deal with the layers of barriers that seemed to be penetrating Sophia's mental power. It was a tough, thankless job for him. He couldn't see the true strength of it but he felt its power and he was nearly overpowered by its magic.

Next, he began to chant the true core of the Meditation; the Enchantment to separate two different, entwined beings from each other. It was another difficult job, even with his experience and magic. There were three beings that he had to pick out: Arthur's hatred, Sophia and Sophie. One was easy to pick out, like a wolf among sheep, but the other two seemed to be within each other.

Lastly, he finished the Meditation with the Preserve. Its job was to keep what was separated, apart, so as to prevent what was taken apart from returning to its mutilated state. It was the most crucial part of the Meditation that Calcifer really took up the entire 35 seconds. Afterwards was when he breathed the sigh of relief.

His duty finished, he started speeding up to where he knew Howl would be. Calcifer was obedient. He felt his heart swell. Sophie would have been proud of him.

And so-

It was a shock to see Sophia collapse so suddenly, without any visible attacker to her physique that Michael forgot to be hidden. He rushed forward and saved her from the floor, unaware that Arthur had lunged at them. Sophia, who was only stunned by the sudden departure of Sophie from her, stirred and jumped up to receive the stab of the dagger, saving Michael from the sharp weapon. It didn't dig too deep in her stomach; Howl had recovered from the lightning bolts graze and had the knife away from her with one simple word of Power. He said another string of words and Arthur was thrown across the room with a magical light. Still irked, Howl turned Arthur into a bug and promptly squashed him with his heeled boot.

Howl, however, was unable to bask in his triumph. His arm still stung and Sophia was injured. What made it worse was the fact that she would think of herself mad for seeing magic when she no longer remembered her time spent within his castle. To his surprise, it was his name she whispered as she sank to the floor from the pain.

"Howl." She managed to gasp.

"Sophia!" Michael and Howl exclaimed in alarm. Then, Howl added, "Michael, could you use your shirt to stop the bleeding? I'll call for help…no never mind. I'll bring her to help."

"Howl!" Calcifer exclaimed as he dropped in from the hole in the ceiling. "Hurry up! She's loosing blood fast!"

Michael and Howl froze for a second in their movements, realizing by Calcifer's words, that Sophia could really die this time.


	19. Which shows how Howl reveals relief

Howl used a faster speed spell this time to place Sophia in a hospital. Howl felt a little guilty about sending Michael home to deliver the news to Morgan, but in truth, he really was doing Michael a favor for if Michael was seen with Howl, carrying an injured woman, Michaels reputation in Wales would be in shambles too.

"What happened to her?" the doctor asked when he received the couple.

"Robbed. I had to fight them off. Quite a number of them." He replied curtly. The doctor mistook this curtness for anxiety and he managed a small smile as he wheeled her quickly to the operating room.

"Sir, what happened to your arm? It's like….it was burned!" a nurse said, horrified.

"Oh, this." He said with a little surprise. He had forgotten his injury due to Sophia. "One of those twerps was bringing a fire. Guess what happened?"

"Okay, Dr. Ferges, you are needed in the emergency room now." She said to the small mike. Every once in a while, her eyes would dart from the blackened arm to Howl's worried face. Her appraisal of his features were interrupted when another nurse came and asked Howl of his relationship with Sophia and all the needed stuff that hospitals ask.

Lastly, they had to ask his name. Howl winced mentally but gave it anyway, knowing that if he even thought about giving a false name, it would be scanned and he would get into more trouble because there was no such person found.

"Howell Jenkins!" the nurse exclaimed, drawing the attention of all the other females present. They craned their necks to get a good view of Howl and he smiled instinctively, causing them all to sigh with surprise.

"Was it Mr. Jenkins that needed me, Gretchen?" a feminine voice asked.

"Yes, Dr. His arm is in a state that only you can fix." Gretchen answered.

Dr. Ferges came into Howl's line of sight and he had to quell his nasty urge to play around with her. She was, after all, only a good natured doctor. But quell it he did for he had more pressing matters in mind, such as not letting a doctor in his world touch his arm, because for sure it would hurt and he would be missing a limb afterwards.

"How did you get to be in this state, Mr. Jenkins?" she asked with a lot of flirtation in the sentence.

Howl strengthened his resolve not to date her and started to penetrate her mind. "You are beyond my skills." He whispered. "You should go to Germany to get an operation for that arm."

Her eyes became strangely blank. "You are beyond my skills." She said loudly. "You should go to Germany to get an operation for that arm."

"Thank you doctor." Howl said just as loudly. She went away looking confused and he didn't blame her. He had, after all, placed a memory modification spell on her to make her forget about him and a number of other irrelevant things he had discovered about his family in her mind.

Howl was reminded about Sophia when he saw Morgan pushing the doors of the emergency room with speed that amazed him.

"Dad how is she?" were predictably the first words out of Morgan's mouth. His bright hair was ruffled and unkempt. Howl would bet his left arm that his child did not comb his hair since he had woken up.

"No news yet." He answered. "Calm down."

"Calm down! How can I be calm when…" Morgan did not finish his sentence when he saw the pained look on Howls face. It was only then that he noticed the injury. "Were you struck by a lightning bolt?" he said in a low voice.

"Yup. Well, I was just grazed. No need to worry, I just need to place a potion on it and then it will be as good as new."

"Yeah, but still, that must hurt. Don't you want to go home and fix that while I wait for news about Sophia?" Morgan's eyes went around Howl to see if Sophia was visible anywhere.

"No. I'll stay."

Morgan's eyes widened for only a fraction but he said nothing. After all, he did not know how his father thought things through.

"How is she?" Michael asked, appearing out of nowhere with Martha.

"Were still waiting." Morgan said sadly.

As if to prove him wrong, a doctor carrying bloodied gloves arrived, looking all professional. "Friends of Heraldia? She needs blood transfusion but she's alright. She's still unconscious, but one of you can stay around to watch over her."

Howl visibly relaxed and Morgan slumped in his seat. "That's good, right Howl?" Michael asked. Martha laughed and rubbed Michael shoulders.

"Yeah. Morgan could you…."

Morgan finally managed a laugh. "Go home dad. Fix that arm."

Howl winked at Morgan. _I can't fix its appearance yet, only the pain._

_What! You started another rumor, didn't you?_

_Let's just say that people will think that we've gone to Germany for my arm._

_Great. Why Germany?_

Howl left the question hanging, making Morgan annoyed. Michael and Martha went with Howl. "We left the children with Lettie. I think she has killed some of them by now." Martha said solemnly.

"She isn't that bad, I think." Michael said reassuringly. "But I do believe I saw Lettie grabbing a knife as we were leaving."

"What!" Martha said sharply before realizing that Michael was just joking. "Don't pull my leg when I'm serious, dear."

Howl and Michael shared a laugh, reminding both of Michaels apprentice days. This jovial mood remained until the trio reached the Castle, where they were received by an irate Calcifer.

"Nice of you to finally drop by. I was rotting away without news." He said angrily.

Michael and Martha had the audacity to appear bashful whereas Howl merely answered Calcifer's unasked question.

"She's alright, Calcifer. Beaten up a little but she's on the mend." While he was saying this, he was moving around the room, placing things in their proper order; watched by an apprehensive Calcifer, who was fearing that Howl would use the bathroom. To his surprise, Howl headed for the potions cupboard.

"Is that why you're having such a contagiously happy mood?" Calcifer asked. Then, noticing the arm, "Is that an effect of being too heroic?"

"Shut it. It's not like I volunteere-" his words were cut off when he doubled over, gasping in pain as the curses that were hovering around him struck home when they realized that their caster was dead. Howl understood what happened and nearly smacked himself for underestimating his opponent.

"Howl!" Michael and Martha said in unison.

"Deplorable!" he gasped. "Attacking me behind my back! But it's not like he's stupid."

"And you have the mind to complain whilst you're attacked by a thousand, invisible fires?" Calcifer asked incredulously. He didn't wait for a reply but immediately started the counter for the spell. It didn't take a minute and Howl was back on his feet, looking like he had been run over by a legion of horses.

"Thanks Calcifer. I owe you."

"Yeah. That's twice now. And to think, even with my help, you still managed to get struck by a lightning bolt? And you call yourself a wizard…"

Calcifer stopped talking only when he saw the look on Howl's face. Then, he cackled away like a mad man, hiding under the safety of his logs.

Michael paid no attention to the mood his old teacher was in. He was more intent on the words that had caused Howl to be foul. "Howl, what is Calcifer talking about? Wait, was he the one who managed to restore Sophia to her original mental state?"

"Yup. That was his job. I told him to use a Meditation spell." Howl winced as he slowly tested moving his right arm and then he headed towards the bathroom, leaving Michael and Martha on their own.

When he returned an hour later, the couple was already gone. They had used Howls seven league boots, something that made Howl worry a little since it would be in a house full of disastrously curious children that would probably discover how to use the aforementioned boots.

"They knew what they were doing," Calcifer replied when Howl had mentioned it to him before he went out to Wales. "They're the children's parents. Can I come with you? I'll just disguise myself as a flower. Martha left those violets behind and I perfectly blend with them."

Calcifer sounded so sincere that Howl felt that it would be heartless for him to leave Calcifer behind(No pun intended), so the two went out together, Calcifer clinging on a small piece of wood in the midst of the flowers.

"You know, Howl, this is probably the first time I've been to Wales, not hiding behind anybody's back or anything, Just….being carried around." He sounded like a child on his first time on a Ferris wheel and it caused Howl to smile slightly.

"It's not every day that somebody gets sick and we have to visit with flowers." He said. "But then, I guess Martha did think of you when she bought these."

"Technically," Calcifer emphasized the word. "Sophia is not sick. It's more like….assaulted by a deadly weapon to save somebody….sick. That doesn't sound right somehow."

Howl laughed. Calcifer was giddy with pleasure at the fact that he was being carried around in a _bouquet_ of violets that he wasn't paying attention if he sounded sane or not. "I get your point, blueface. But nobody needs to know that she saved Michael, not me. I told them we were robbed."

"You're terrible. Why don't you just tell the truth for once?" Calcifer asked. Then, before Howl could open his mouth to retort to that, he cut in. "Never mind. I forgot that I'm talking to the Heartless Howl."

They were about to reach the hospital, so they talked in more subdued tones since the street was getting more crowded. There were women in fancy clothes everywhere and Howl seemed to draw every eye. He couldn't exactly stop the rush hour, but it was enough that he could walk through the crowd without saying "excuse me" and "may I pass?"

"They really remember you." Calcifer muttered.

"That is very evident. I wish I could just get a long range spell and erase all their memories. But then again, where's the fun in that?"

Calcifer pulsed a little in surprise. "Surprisingly Howl, you don't sound like a coward when you say that. What changed you?"

Howl, if possible, blushed, but that could have been attested to the heat the sun gave off. "Well, you probably wouldn't understand if I explained. Half of these lovely ladies were wonderful night companions. It's amazing how easy it is to charm women from my world."

Calcifer couldn't comprehend fully what Howl meant. "A night companion? You mean a log? Log's are nice. They make good pillows and they're also edible."

Howl shook with suppressed laughter. "Yes. They also make good pillows. They're very soft too."

Calcifer realized what Howl meant and also started to sizzle with laughter. "They probably were very easy to catch since they were blinded by your smiles." A look from Howl begged explanation so Calcifer continued. "Sophie used to complain to me that you could make a sparrow blind by just by smiling."

This started off another round of subdued laughter and Howl was rather breathless when he entered the hospital. He went directly to the resident nurse.

"I'm here to visit Heraldia. What room is she in?"

The nurse managed to gape at Howl for a moment before she recovered her wits. Then, the flirtatious smiles started. "She's in room 315. Would you like me to accompany you sir?" The last part was barely a purr and Howl couldn't help but smile at her attempts to catch his attention.

"Thank you." The he lowered his voice. "How about joining me for a cup of coffee later?"

The desired effect was achieved. The nurse was rooted to the spot with surprise and then she slipped a piece of paper in his hand. "Call me later." She whispered, leaning on him.

"You fell for that?" Howl heard another nurse shriek as he went away. It sounded suspiciously like Gretchen. "Helen, _that_ was Howell Jenkins!"

Howl chuckled to himself.


	20. Which shows Megan's side of the story

Megan watered their garden, but her thoughts were elsewhere. It wasn't on her daughter that was quietly making a painting in their old bedroom; it wasn't on her son that was playing soccer with a number of friends in a nearby field. It wasn't even her own husband that had her thoughts. It was on the memories and emotions that seeing Sophia that stirred.

Megan attacked the next flower bush as she remembered what had happened that day. The day where the beautiful woman had arrived out of nowhere with her good for-nothing brother that had actually looked respectable for once.

Flashback-

"Neil, get down from your sisters closet!" Gareth was shouting upstairs.

Megan had ignored the usual noise that descended the house whenever Gareth attempted to play with the children. Gareth was never in the house, and when he was, the children rivaled over each other to catch his attention and outdid themselves in the mess they would create afterwards. She had started to bake the pizza in the oven and had moved on to start the French muffins. It was in that state that Howell found her when he had dropped by for a quick announcement.

"Megan," he said breathlessly, appearing to have been harassed. "I am forced to do this, I promise. Could you prepare Gareth for a minute? I'm bringing someone over…"

Megan had marched towards him as he was speaking and seemed to have cut off his speech capabilities with her glare. "Bringing someone over?" She hissed, emphasizing the "someone".

Howell recovered from her intimidating atmosphere. "This is actually a favor. Or do you prefer me to drop in unannounced with my wife?"

The words seemed to have a physical weight on Megan; she had staggered a little and peered at Howell's face to see if he was pulling her leg. When she was convinced that her little brother was serious, she had sighed and turned around.

"Why didn't you make me help plan the wedding?" she asked with a small voice, anything louder would have shown that she was weeping.

This was then greeted by silence and Megan took this time to wipe away her betraying tears. When she had turned to face Howell again, she was composed and dry-eyed. Howell, however, was anything but composed.

"You see Megan…" he had stuttered. "Sophie belongs in another country and she has different cultures and values. You might find some of her traditions odd."

Megan had seen her brother lie a million times before and this was definitely a lie. She narrowed her eyes at him and his ears had turned red. "Lie again, Howell, and I will have you permanently out of this house." She regretted her choice of words but could no longer take it back.

Howell had stared at her with that blank, calm mask that he adopted whenever she had gone overboard. He opened his mouth to say something, but Gareth chose that moment to tumble down the stairs with Neil. Howell saw this as his perfect escape route.

"Farewell, Megan. I'll come back this evening, right after you finish cleaning up after supper. That should give you ample time of preparation, right?" and he then departed quickly, foreseeing trouble at the thought of talking to Gareth.

Gareth and Neil had stood awkwardly in the living room for a moment before Gareth had the sense to usher Neil to the other room. But Gareth still had authority, for his eyes and facial expressions screamed hostility upon seeing his brother-in-law.

"What was he doing here?" Gareth asked rudely.

Megan closed her eyes for only a fraction and faced her husband. "Howell finally found manners. He came to announce to us that he will arrive this evening with his wife."

Gareth had looked struck by a lightning bolt, but he recovered quickly and became cynical. "Somebody finally roped him in huh? Did she have to become pregnant before he popped the question?"

Megan did not speak to defend Howell, but her eyes blazed. "Gareth, it seems that the girl he married has sense. She convinced him to do what he did earlier; usually he just appears here without warning. She doesn't seem like she would get herself pregnant."

Gareth had attacked Howell even more viciously, hanging around the kitchen as Megan prepared dinner. When Sophie and Howell arrived, she had been secretly pleased upon seeing Sophie put Gareth in his place, but for the life of her, she wouldn't have admitted it to anyone. Then, to her utter astonishment, she overheard Howell and Sophie arguing in the garden before they announced that they were leaving.

"Tell her Howl!" Sophie was whispering furiously. "You have got to tell her. You can't keep your sister ignorant of the other things that you know about."

"I can't." he had answered. "Letting Megan know about Ingary is much too dangerous. Sophie, you of all people should know that I have a lot of enemies."

Megan was about to burst in on their conversation, but something had told her to hang back and listen. She was so surprised anyway that she didn't want to do anything but think and absorb everything she had heard so far.

There was a snort from Sophie at this. "It's not like you couldn't protect them when the need arises. You're being such a coward, Howl."

"You know me too well." There was a smile in his tone. "I can't tell Megan. She wouldn't believe me either, so what's the point?"

"The point is, you tried. Imagine it. Mari would love Ingary. All the horses, the silk dresses and the magic wands…."

"And the witches that try to kill you." Howell had muttered.

"And the wizards that eats hearts and drinks souls of girls." Sophie had countered.

There was a yell from the window as Mari climbed over and jumped towards her uncle. "Uncle Howell! Is this your fairy princess that was turned into an old woman? Did you finally turn her into a young lady? She's very pretty! Just as you said she would be." The first sentence was in English, but the rest was in Welsh.

Megan felt like a total outsider.

End of Flashback-

Megan shook her head at the utter stupidity of it. She had almost asked Sophie what Ingary was when her common sense came to her. Why should she interest herself in her little brother when he was determined to shut her out from her life? It was a pain to her, but she didn't realize that this mentality was actually the wall that separated Howell and her.

"Mother," Mari said, coming down the stairs elegantly. "You haven't moved from that bush in almost half an hour. You're in such deep thoughts."

Megan smiled at her. "Oh, I am only caught up in a puzzle."

"Shall I take over then? We don't want the rest of the flowers to be over flooded, do we?" Mari moved to take the spray from Megan's fingers, but she shook her head.

"I'm fine dear. Finish your artwork."

Mari's face fell slightly, but she covered it quickly with a serene, false smile. She moved away to a short distance and watched her mother carefully.

Megan's mind remembered another day. It was another time, another place. When she was younger and more vivacious and patient with life.

Flashback-

"Howell, I'm getting married." She had told him happily. "We need to move, and I'm taking you with me."

"I don't want to. I'm staying here." His green eyes had been looking at one spot for several days since their mother had died and Megan was starting to feel that maybe her brother was finally losing his mind.

"Why? There's nothing left here. Mother and Father are gone. I can't leave you on your own and besides, the house is about to be sold."

Howell stood up abruptly. "I can't leave here."

"No. You'll come with me. Look, I already packed your bags. Just come with me for a while. You're about to finish your education in the university anyway. It's just a couple of years Howell."

A set look came on his face that she recognized to be determination and just plain old stubbornness. "I think I'll stay in the dorms. Thanks for the offer." He swung his school bag over his shoulder.

That was it for her temper. She started yelling off everything she had done for him and all his 'ungrateful' responses to it. Inch by inch, he had moved towards the doorway and he ran away. She had shook her head on how frequent episodes like these were happening.

She had contacted the dorms for him then, and was surprised that Howell had already done so, two weeks ago, which was the time of their mothers death. She was also told that Howell had requested that he would return home for the holidays. She was then convinced that Howell did not like Gareth, but still wanted to continue forming bonds with him.

During the holidays, however, Howell returned with bloodshot eyes and an unhealthy pallor. She was forced to watch over him as he recuperated, and when asked on what had happened in the dorms, he only replied that he was too busy to sleep. He had shook off her concerns over his health and returned to the dorms without even finishing the holidays.

She had turned from Howell then, determined that he was just trying out independence and she would have to leave him to it until he decided that he was ready for the real world. It was fine for her then, but he had vanished without a trace the next summer.

End of Flashback-

Megan dumped the watering can and headed indoors to prepare lunch. Mari had mysteriously disappeared but she was too preoccupied to notice.

She was just starting to unravel the tin foil when she noticed that a draft was blowing within the house. She moved quickly to close the open door when she realized that after stepping on her mat; she was no longer inside her house.

"Wha-?" she gasped.

She was in a room that was terribly filthy and there were black beams for a ceiling that lead her to conclude that there was a second floor. From the beams hung quite an assortment of odd items and there was a shelf that held a quaint number of books. On the opposite side of the dirty dining table, there was an old fashioned grate that held a blazing and crackling fire.

"Where am I?" she asked no one in particular. She was definitely no longer inside her house, that was given. It also seemed that she was no longer in any place she knew since she had never entered any house with an old fashioned _fireplace_.

"You're in Howl's castle." Said a voice.

"Wh-who said that?" she stammered.

"Over here, in the fire."

As absurd the notion was that a fire could talk, she moved towards the merry, leaping flames and saw a face there that was looking wickedly mischievous. "Were you the one that brought me here? Answer me."

If possible, the face scowled. "Not bad, I could see where Howl got his manners. You didn't even ask me for my name yet. Your daughter did, so I would say that she's _nicer_ than you."

Megan blinked and then smiled. "I beg your pardon then. My name is Megan. What is yours?"

The creature seemed to sit up amongst the logs. "My name is Calcifer. I'm a fire demon. And, if you were about to ask, Mari did arrive here earlier than you. She's in the garden."

Megan was concerned about her daughter enough that she peeked into the garden to see that Mari was sitting on a stone bench, sniffing a plucked rose. Then, Megan turned around again to interrogate Calcifer.

"Where did you say I was again?" Megan asked.

"In Howl's castle."

The name made Megan pause. It was only earlier that she had reminiscenced on a certain woman addressing that particular name to her brother. And it was only two days ago that the Heraldia girl had said that she was taken to Howells castle. Megan made the connection instantly and rounded on the poor, not so innocent Calcifer.

"So, this is my brother's house. Is he home? Where is he?" she stopped turning and glared at Calcifer. "How did we get here anyway?"

Calcifer smiled. "One question at a time, Megan. Which one do you want answered first?"

"The latter."

"Ah," he seemed uneasy. "Morgan was careless. Earlier, he was brought home by Howl to sleep because he was tasked to watch over Sophia for the first half of the morning. Howl had brought me along, you see because I needed some touring around. When Morgan returned later with me, he forgot to close the barrier to your world and this one, so Mari wandered in from your place. I was about to close it when that North wind distracted me."

Megan decided that if she was to appear calm and composed to Calcifer, she would have to remember all he said but not understand it. She would leave the understanding later. When she would fully comprehend this, she knew she would undergo shock.

"So….is my nephew home?"

"Yeah, wasting all my hot water. He's been in the bathroom for a while now. I believe he's styling his hair. Oh, speak of the devil."

Morgan emerged from a door beyond a work bench that Megan just noticed, looking fresh, sparkling and wearing his hair in a neat tie at the nape of his neck. He was wearing a strange piece of clothing that had extremely long sleeves. He looked horrified that Megan was in the room.

"Calcifer, how did Aunt Megan enter the castle?" he asked in a strange accent.

Calcifer flew up in a shower of purple sparks. "Don't use that accusing tone with me. You sound just like Howl. _You_ were one who forgot to close the portal."

Mari had hurried over inside the room when she heard the sound of raised voices and she stopped short when she saw Megan, Morgan and Calcifer. Morgan was looking more horrified by the moment. "Oh, I thought you said there was nobody in the house." She directed her words to Calcifer.

"You're all ganging up on me." Calcifer whined. "I _implied_ that no one was here, I didn't _say_ that the house was empty."

Mari glanced at Morgan, wearing foreign clothes, then at Calcifer, floating in mid-air. "Okay, truthfully, where are we? You said we were in Uncle Howell's house. But where in the world…"

Morgan and Calcifer exchanged uncomfortable and uneasy glances and then turned to face Megan and Mari. "Look," Morgan said in a pleading tone. "We really have no right to say anything. We have to wait until Dad arrives. He tried to protect the both of you from this place."

"Why should I need protection?" Mari asked at the same time that Megan queried, "Protection from what?"

Morgan looked exasperated at their questions and opened his mouth to answer when there was a bang at the door from where Megan had entered that Morgan was forced to pause. He opened the door cautiously after a nod from Calcifer. It was a panting man.

"Why did you seal the Market Chipping entrance?" he gasped. He was holding up a dirty boot which he thrusted into Morgan's arms. Morgan dropped it immediately.

"Seal the…." Morgan turned on Calcifer. "You sealed the Market Chipping entrance!"

Calcifer appeared to be alarmed and was a thin line of blue. Megan was rather afraid that Calcifer would evaporate into thin air. "I believe I sealed the wrong portal. Michael, enter. I have to hurry or else someone else will step into the castle."

It seemed that the portal was sealed after a little effort in Calcifer's part. Morgan and the man named Michael had no part in it at all. Their job was only to check if the portal really was closed.

"That finished," Calcifer sighed. "I think I need to sleep."

"Excuse me." Mari interrupted him. "If Uncle Howell is in Wales, how is he to return?"

Calcifer yawned, expelling purple sparks and showing off two purple teeth. "Only Howl can open the portal."

Michael immediately departed after that and Morgan was left to entertain his rather unexpected quests. Megan thought that it was a little unfair that Howell was not there to be bothered by their presence as Megan usually was by his. She rather liked Morgan and didn't think he deserved this unfortunate turn of events.

In the middle of the evening, Calcifer awoke and blazed up. "Morgan, I have a message from Howl. He says that Sophia is now better and has just left the hospital. He has placed a stronger memory modification spell on her and she has completely forgotten everything."

Megan was a little surprised at this news, but not shocked. She had heard the name 'Sophia' mentioned twice in the household and she had begun to think that maybe, Howell had not made up the stories he had told Mari when she was a little girl.

Mari, on the other hand, looked as if she needed private time to take in everything that she had seen and heard. She was pale white, but there was a look of wonder in her eyes that made Megan realize that Mari was enjoying everything she was seeing, devouring it and swallowing it up with hidden enthusiasm.

The door rattled and shook. Megan and Mari started, but Morgan looked at Calcifer. "It's Howl." Calcifer answered with nonchalance. The door opened with an air of finality.

"Fiddlesticks." Howl cussed when he caught sight of Megan and Mari receiving tea from Morgan.


	21. Chapter 21

Mari looked at her uncle with a bit of apprehension. Morgan and….Calcifer both seemed afraid by the fact that she and Mom had wandered in from ….Wales. Okay, maybe that was just an exaggeration but it seemed obvious to Mari that light green was not the natural color of Calcifer and Morgan never bit the inside of his cheek, especially when flirting with a girl.

Howl took one look at the intruders of his home and then shrugged. Morgan and Calcifer exchanged looks of relief. Howl just went on as though they weren't there. Only his curse when he entered showed that he noticed their presence.

Megan, on the other hand, wasn't used to Howls habits. They hadn't exactly had a civil conversation that lasted for ten minutes for the past few years. She was a frank and determined sort of lady. She only waited for a few minutes of this treatment and then she stood up.

"Howell, aren't you going to greet us?" she said in the most unnaturally strange voice she had ever used. It was the tone one used with a misbehaving child that one knew would never listen in the first place.

Howl pretended not to listen whilst Morgan coaxed Megan to sit down again. The tone in Morgan's voice made Megan obey.

"Do not," Morgan said in a way that made Megan and Mari feel as though he had done this before to someone else. "This is his Castle. He will notice you when he feels like it. Other than that, be happy he made you stay and didn't kick you out."

It was seen quite clearly that Megan did not think this was not making her happy, this cold treatment. However, though she seemed to dislike it even more, she saw the logic behind Morgan's words and sat on her chair obediently.

"But Morgan," Mari said in her gentle, pleasant voice. "Now that Uncle Howell is here, can we talk about what this place is?"

There was a clatter on Howls corner in the hearth. His writing pen had dropped. Slowly, the blond head turned and the green eyes seemed to stare at all of them but at the same time, it seemed as though he was looking each of them in the eye, appraising their reaction. Mari shivered.

"Uh, Howl? Cut that out." Calcifer said from the fireplace. "It's creepy if you're not used to it."

Calcifer seemed to break a trance. Howl shook his head, as though to clear it of something heavy, and then he smiled for the first time since he entered.

"Okay," he said in a tone Mother and daughter had not heard for a long time. "What do you want first? The nice parts of this world, or the other side of the tapestry?"

"Uhm…." Mari stuttered, still a little unnerved from the eye-stare attack.

"How about the nice ones first?" Megan suggested.

Howl seemed to know that that would be their choice. He drew a deep breath and then released it. But before he could speak, a very handsome young man banged open the door, looking very pissed and irritated.

"Shcliezah! What was with that, Calcifer? I just returned and found the doors locked. Is this revenge for wiping your logs with peanut butter and jam?" It was only at the end of this speech that he noticed the guests, their eyes wide with surprise.

"Megan, Mari, meet my helper. He comes here once a week. Clarence Grey, my relatives." Howl introduced smoothly.

Mari blushed and hid her mouth and her cheeks under a handkerchief. Megan greeted him stiffly.

"Clarence, the shop…" Howl trailed off. His eyes narrowed at the bruise Clarence had on his cheek. "Did you practice what I taught you?"

He shook his admirable dark mane. "Yes. But Wizard Howl, there has been so much interference with my magic lately. I cannot help but feel as if I am weakening."

Howl looked at him with concern. "It is the night of the full moon of Shiva's year, Clarence. It is the time wherein all Wizards are at their weakest. I have prepared a serum of immunity to this effect."

Clarence looked relieved and he nodded. He went to a discreet, unnoticed cupboard and vanished. Mari stared at his back with great interest.

"Okay," Howl said with a sigh. "Sorry about that. Shall I begin?"

This time, it was Morgan himself who interrupted Howl. "Wait, dad. Uncle Gareth and Neil aren't here. Do you want to repeat yourself?"

Howl was about to answer to that when Megan shook her head. "Do not bother."

Mari looked at her with surprise. Howl gave her a co-conspirators grin. Then, Howl started to describe Ingary. It was rather fascinating at first, like a land woven out of a fairy story. It had princesses and Kings. There was Magic, and superstitions that actually came true. It was a beautiful picture that Howl painted.

When Howl was finished with the good part, he stood up.

"Wait!" Mari complained. "You didn't finish yet. Tell us of Ingary's bad side."

Howl grabbed a frying pan and turned to her. "We need to eat. I have to cook. Are you staying for dinner?"

They had been so caught up in the magic and beauty that was present in the very air they breathed, they forgot that there was another world that they belonged to. Any minute from now, Gareth would come home from work and find out that there was no food at the table. He would search for Mari and find a half-finished painting.

Neil would be lost. He was just a kid.

Megan remembered everything and her heart turned to lead. "Could you bring Neil here? I don't want to talk to Gareth yet."

Howl gave her a look again but he grinned like a rogue. "You are a minx, Megan! I didn't know that honorable women hid things from their husbands."

Megan had the grace to blush. "I simply do not want to talk about this yet, Howell."

Howell let the subject go and twirled the pan between his fingers like a baton. "Calcifer, could you do the good lady a favour?"

Calcifer looked at Howl warily. "I feel two favours coming."

Howl clapped his hands together. "Quite right! My, I believe you did divination on this day. First request is, bring Neil here and then last request in to bend your head over so that I can cook our dinner."

Calcifer flared in protest. "That's not fair! Sophia already brought you a stove."

"But nothing can cook like a good fire" Howl pointed out. Nevertheless, he plopped the pan on top of the stove and began cooking a big piece of steak. "Morgan, could you tell them about witches and wizards and grudges?"

The boy nodded. "Do you want it sugar-coated?" he asked. "I may say it too bluntly."

Both ladies shook their heads. "Go on please." Mari said.

So Morgan told them that because of the grudging and spiteful nature of most wizards, there were many petty quarrels. Sometimes, civilians were involved.

"But not all wizards are bad, right?" Mari cut in. "Uncle Howell isn't, right?"

Megan started. "Mari, don't say that." To her mind, wizards were those that dabbled in the dark arts.

"But Mama," Mari insisted. "remember Uncle Howell's stories long ago? It's all about this place! I remember it again. And he told me that he was a wizard. Aunt Sophie was someone he cured from a curse."

Howl clenched the ladle tightly in his hand at the mention of Sophie. He breathed in and out quickly. Green slime was on the verge of coming out, but something made him stop.

Neil entered the door, black blob down. He seemed to be in a trance, walking slowly but surely. Mari got up from her chair and caught Neil.

"Neil!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, don't worry about him." Calcifer piped in. "He'll snap out of it. That's just an entrancing spell. I didn't want to risk a transport spell without the right materials."

Megan eyed Howl and Calcifer. "So in all these years, it just came out now that you're a wizard. Was your wife a witch?"

Morgan felt an argument coming. He neatly slithered out of the situation. "I have to visit Mrs. Fairfax. I promised her that I would tell her stuff." And then he went out of the door.

"Like father, like son." Calcifer muttered.

13 years into the past, Sophie smiled contentedly. Everything was well with her family.

It could be noticed that a few days after that encounter Howell Jenkins' relatives were infected with his oddities.

For one, his sister Megan, disappeared and appeared again at irregular intervals. She began to speak Welsh again. The latter was a surprise to her neighbors since it was Megan herself who said that Welsh was a barbarians language. The greater surprise was the fact that Megan and Gareth broke up. She had been a model to her little town when it came to perfect matrimony. The only conclusion they could draw from present evidence was that Gareth had been cheating. To think that Megan would cheat was something hardly comprehensible to them.

Mari, though still a perfectly sweet maiden, spoke strange words and acted odder than any in her family. She made strange stories and wrote them on pieces of paper. And if Megan vanished and appeared again, Mari would be gone for months at a time. This particularly discouraged her suitors. She had that permanently dazzled expression on her eyes that made her seem a little wild.

Neil was the greatest loss of the family, as far as the neighbors were concerned. He was a good boy, had good grades and had many women who loved him. He never returned to Wales. Rumors told the neighbors that he had been taken by Howell Jenkins and taught him terrible ways.

All these troubles made Sophia seem insignificant. She was just a girl that was taken by Howell Jenkins once on a date and then dumped. It was nothing new to them to hear that rumor. Thus, Sophia managed to return to Argentina without any trouble.

But Sophia did not really escape all the troubles when it came to associating with a wizard because strange things were happening to her.

It would probably take another chapter to explain all her troubles but we will just narrate the strangest day of Sophia's life; the 16th of September.

The night before the 16th, she would always dream about talking to a very handsome man, a very handsome boy and a blue flame. The very morning of the 16th, she had learned to expect the bouquet of roses that would always be laid on her bed. When she went down she had learned not to be shocked at the carpet of petals that would lead her way to the dining room. The petals would always be real and it was different kinds of flowers every year. On her dining table would be an array of different steaming dishes and in the very middle of this sumptuous delight, an evergreen. It was the plant of life and death.

And as Sophia would discover these every morning of the 16th of September, a pair of glassy green eyes would always watch her intently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this story a few years ago. It was my first ever fanfic and I owed a lot to my elders who reviewed, telling me what I was doing wrong and how I could improve my writing.
> 
> Thank you to anyone who actually read this trashy and terrible thing.
> 
> Also, I have half forgotten the plot to this, so please, if it needs an additional tag, tell me and I'll fix it.


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